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21

Nov 2022

Last Updated: 18/11/2022
Crime
Crime

Solicitor struck off for failing to protect vulnerable Harrogate homeowner

by Vicky Carr

| 21 Nov, 2022
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Anthony Gale was employed by Ison Harrison solicitors when he acted for both the buyer and the seller of a property on St George's Road.

st-georges-road

A solicitor has been struck off for a year after failing to protect a vulnerable client from a conman who bought his Harrogate home.

Anthony Gale was employed by Ison Harrison solicitors when he acted for both the buyer and the seller of a property on St George's Road.

The solicitor had a long-standing professional relationship with the buyer, Sukhdev Singh, who acquired the property by telling the seller he had paid off the outstanding mortgage of just under £120,000. However, there was no evidence of any mortgage having existed or any money having been paid for the home, the tribunal heard.

Singh acquired the home through a company he had set up, before renting it back to the vulnerable man, who had no tenancy agreement to protect him. Singh was jailed earlier this year for four counts of fraud, all relating to the same property and its former owner.

A hearing of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last month found the seller, known as Client A, was autistic and had an estimated mental age of 12 years and four months. Mr Gale said he did not realise this when he was dealing with the sale.

A report from the tribunal, published last week, said:

"The admitted misconduct represented a grave departure [from] the 'complete integrity, probity and trustworthiness' expected of a solicitor.
"The harm Mr Gale caused to the solicitors’ profession was extensive. The harm caused both to those directly involved and to the profession was eminently foreseeable."


The three members of the tribunal panel said Mr Gale's misconduct was "deliberate, calculated and repeated", and led to a vulnerable client being taken advantage of in the transaction, which took place in 2016.

Mr Gale also faced an allegation that, in 2020 when he was employed by Lofthouse & Co, he acted without authorisation in another property sale and signed a contract without instruction.



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The hearing last month heard that he had been before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal before, in 2018, relating to allegations about his conduct on five other conveyancing matters, between 2005 and 2014. While he denied all five charges, the tribunal found the majority of them proved and he was ordered to pay a fine of £10,000 and costs of £28,291.

He also had sanctions imposed on his practice, including preventing him from being the sole practitioner or owner of a law firm.

The report from last month's hearing into the latest allegations said:

"Mr Gale’s repeated misconduct demonstrated his complete lack of insight into and understanding of his failings.
"The tribunal held serious concerns as to the risk of repetition in the future given Mr Gale’s demonstrable propensity to ignore red flags in conveyancing transactions, and his inherent inability to identify and heed warning signs of fraud or exploitation."


'Blind spot'


The tribunal heard that while the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which brought the application to have him struck off, had been investigating Mr Gale, he had denied all the allegations against him.

However, he admitted them shortly before the hearing, in August this year. The tribunal report said:

"It was plain to the tribunal that Mr Gale had a complete blind spot with regard to the obligations to 'know your client', the risks of fraud in conveyancing transactions, management of conflicts of interest, and the obligations attendant upon accepting instructions from vulnerable clients.
"The previous sanction imposed in 2018 had not rectified Mr Gale’s ineptitude in those respects, and had not protected either the public or the reputation of the profession from repeated harm."


Mr Gale was ordered to pay costs of £12,000 and was suspended from practising for a year.

After that date, he will face restrictions on his work including being barred from running his own business, being a partner in a business, or taking on a role where he is responsible for legal practice or finance and administration.

He is also prevented from holding clients' money and being a signatory on a client account.

In order to work as a solicitor, he will have to seek approval from the SRA, and will have to complete further training in four areas of practice, including working with vulnerable clients and understanding the risks of fraud.