Jude Sebastian Fletcher

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

Jude Sebastian Fletcher, sole owner, director and COFA of Fletcher Day Limited, misappropriated a minimum of £997,417.58 of client money (contributing to a client account shortage of £2,096,757.59) by transferring client funds into a Metro Bank account to which he alone had access and making payments to himself (as 'Jude Grammer') and others for non-client purposes. He also provided the SRA with falsified Metro Bank statements and a fabricated bank letter (December 2020/January 2021) and gave the Firm's cashier forged statements showing a fictitious £2.1m balance (October 2022) to conceal the shortfall. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, found dishonesty under Ivey, and ordered him struck off the Roll with costs of £65,000.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Proven dishonesty
• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated over a sustained period
• Motivated by personal financial gain
• Abuse of position as sole person with access to Metro account
• Falsified bank statements and a bank letter
• Misled both staff and regulator
• Failure to engage with the regulator over a prolonged period

Mitigating factors:

• None advanced (Respondent did not attend); he acknowledged seriousness and suggested strike-off, agreed to pay costs in full in email of 17 February 2026