Nicholas Heywood

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

Nicholas Heywood, a solicitor admitted in 1990, was convicted at Warrington Crown Court in December 2011 of two counts of prejudicing a money laundering investigation, perverting the course of justice, and transferring criminal property, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. The Tribunal proceeded in his absence on the second Rule 7 Statement only, leaving earlier statements to lie on file. It found breaches of SRA Principles 1, 2 and 6. Although not all offences necessarily involved dishonesty, they showed such a lack of integrity that the ultimate sanction was justified. He was struck off the Roll. Costs were awarded in principle but left to be assessed and not enforceable without Tribunal permission, given a Restraint Order and bankruptcy.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• AML and crime-prevention compliance

Aggravating factors:

• Convicted of serious criminal offences with immediate custodial sentence of 6 months
• Offences went to the heart of the principles governing the profession
• Trial judge noted the Respondent knew what he was doing was wrong
• Concealed and altered conveyancing files relevant to a money laundering investigation

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings
• Convictions on his own confession
• Acknowledged that convictions justified a striking off order