Solicitor Jailed for Stealing From Clients Trust Fund

Tue, 08 Jun 2010

A 79 year old solicitor has been jailed for 20 months after being found guilty of stealing nearly £330,000 from a trust fund . Peter Perrey from Abberley ran Reynolds and Company law firm in Halesowen but stole the money to boost the fortunes of his ‘loss making practice’. Gareth Evans QC, defending Perrey, claimed that Perrey could not face making redundancies to cut overheads so instead stole the money – an act which he claimed was completely out of character.

Judge John Warner was dismissive of the defence, insisting that the lawyer had undermined the public’s faith in the legal profession by committing a serious breach of trust, and added that large numbers of people encounter personal and business difficulties but do not resort to breaking the law.

Mr Perrey stole the money from a trust fund which successful businessman Kevin McDonald had set up for his children. Having acted for Mr McDonald for 40 years, he stole £329,750 from the trust fund, and ‘borrowed’ a further £295,000 to help fund the acquisition of a house. Having repaid most of the £295,000, the total amount taken by Perrey was nearly £400,000.
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