Richard Hallows from Hawarden in Wales ran his own law firm Hallows Associates and had full control of clients’ accounts between 2016 and 2018.

During this time, he ran a so-called ‘teeming and lading’ scam, moving £880,000 of client funds between accounts. This involved using funds in one account to replace money taken from another, usually involving hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He admitted fraud by abuse of position on Friday and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in jail at Caernarfon Crown Court.

The court heard that Hallows spent the money for his own financial gain to support his firm and pay off loans.

In total there were five separate complaints of fraudulent activity, the highest individual loss being £600,000.

Hallows used numerous excuses when clients asked for the funds of the estates to be transferred. He said he had missed flights and trains, while on other occasions he made excuses regarding the health of family members saying that his daughter had gone into surgery and that his ex-wife had collapsed.

On other occasions he claimed to have sent the funds but said they were going to take seven days to process. The ‘processed funds’ never made it to the clients.

One client had designated Hallows as the executor of a deceased family member’s £143,000 estate but once asked to distribute the funds he again gave various spurious excuses as to why this could not be done.

Detective constable David Hall of North Wales Police’s economic crime unit said: ‘We welcome the outcome which concludes the end of a protracted and challenging investigation.

‘Those who commit fraud should be under no assumption that an outwardly respectable professional occupation will protect them from scrutiny.

‘Hallows was at the time an SRA regulated solicitor, operating his own practice. He took from the client account money to pay off his own financial liabilities rather than those of his clients.

‘His behaviour has left a trail of destruction for victims who placed their trust in him and the professional services he claimed to offer.’

Hallows had been qualified since 1983 and once the fraud came to light the Solicitors Regulation Authority shut the firm down in 2018.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal struck Hallows off completely in 2020 after discovering he was using the teeming and lading system.

Claire Busby, specialist prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘Hallows abused his position of trust as a solicitor for his own personal gain and in doing so, put his clients at risk of huge financial loss.

‘Confiscation proceedings will be pursued against Mr Hallows.

‘The CPS are committed to working closely with the police to tackle fraud and bring offenders to justice and we will not hesitate to prosecute in cases like this.’