John Desmond Patefield

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

The Respondent, admitted 1992 but not in practice, was convicted at Bradford Crown Court of attempting to obtain services by deception (relating to obtaining a car lease) and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. The Tribunal found the allegation of conduct unbefitting a solicitor substantiated, holding the conviction was for an offence of dishonesty. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £1,397.67. The Respondent did not attend and did not contest the allegations.

Duties found breached:

• No improper solicitation or touting

Aggravating factors:

• Offence of dishonesty considered serious enough to justify a custodial sentence of six months
• Three further like offences taken into account by the Court

Mitigating factors:

• Previous good character
• Offences not committed during course of practice as a solicitor
• Did not contest the allegations