Alison Haley Griffiths

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

Alison Haley Griffiths, a solicitor admitted in 2003, misappropriated £49,482.52 from Client A and £35,790 from Person B while acting under Lasting Powers of Attorney. She was convicted of fraud by abuse of position under s.4 Fraud Act 2006 and sentenced to 24 months imprisonment. She admitted all allegations including dishonesty. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers by agreed outcome, found the misconduct extremely serious with no exceptional circumstances, and ordered she be struck off the Roll with no order as to costs.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• No taking unfair advantage
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty and lack of integrity benefitting the Respondent
• Commission of a criminal offence resulting in a custodial sentence of 24 months
• Misconduct sustained over an extended period (over two years)
• Abuse of position of trust involving vulnerable individuals
• Repeated pattern of behaviour affecting two victims
• Experienced solicitor (qualified 15-18 years)

Mitigating factors:

• Demonstrated insight and remorse
• Made open and frank admissions to employer, police and SRA
• Fully co-operated with the SRA investigation