John Robert Cank

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The Respondent, John Robert Cank (admitted 2000), was convicted at Burnley Crown Court on 6 June 2008 of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his mother, receiving a 36-week suspended sentence. The SDT, proceeding in his absence, found the single allegation under Rule 1.06 substantiated. Given the facts and the Respondent's apparent state of mind from the documents, the Tribunal suspended him indefinitely and ordered costs of £1,550.24, not to be enforced without Tribunal consent due to his financial circumstances. No finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage

Aggravating factors:

• Previous police caution for a similar assault
• Sentencing judge took a serious view of the offence
• Respondent maintained he had not breached professional conduct rules

Mitigating factors:

• Relatively young man
• Good record with the SRA / no previous disciplinary sanctions
• Offence did not arise from his practice as a solicitor