Ashley Peter Barry Attwood

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

Mr Attwood, a sole practitioner solicitor, was convicted in the Crown Court at Stoke on 16 April 2021 (following a guilty plea) of sexual assault by penetration under s.2 Sexual Offences Act 2003 against Person A, the wife of a long-term friend, on 18 August 2018. He was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment, placed indefinitely on the Sex Offenders Register and on the DBS Barring List. He had taken photographs of the victim and deleted them in an attempt to destroy evidence. He admitted the SRA allegation. The Tribunal found the allegation proved (breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6) and struck him off the Roll, ordering him to pay costs of £3,000.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Commission of a serious criminal offence
• Attempt to conceal misconduct by deleting images from phone
• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Took advantage of a vulnerable victim who was asleep
• Offence took place in victim's bedroom where she was entitled to feel safe
• Abuse of friendship
• Under the influence of alcohol
• Significant harm to Person A and the reputation of the profession

Mitigating factors:

• No previous adverse regulatory history
• Expression of remorse
• Guilty plea (though late)
• Undiagnosed medical conditions at the time of the offence (limited weight)