Lawyer suspended for possession of indecent images

A LANCASHIRE solicitor has been suspended, after being caught in posession of indecent images of young girls.

Michael Loveridge, 62, practiced at his firm Michael A Loveridge in Clitheroe, Lancashire, which carried out litigation, personal injury, residential conveyancing, commercial property and business affairs.

A Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on June 2, heard that he was found in possession of four indecent photographs and a video of children in July 2014.

In January 2015, he accepted a police caution for the offence of possessing indecent photographs.

Mr Trevette, Loveridge’s solicitor at the hearing in London, told the tribunal that despite searching for  teenage girls/cheerleaders,  he understood that the people in the images were over 18.

He said: “[The Respondent] has acepted that he had searched the internet to view pornographic images, but has no interest in young girls or children… He accepts that he did, on numerous occassions, visit various commercial websites advertising themselves as showing schoolgirls/cheerleaders and so on that were clearly aimed at people with an interest in teenage girls, like himself…

“There was a  significant amount of adult pornography that he had deliberately saved on his computer, and which was completely legal.”

Loveridge has been a solicitor for 36 years and had practiced in Clitheroe for 24 years.

Due to the allegations and impending tribunal he had been unable to obtain professional indemnity insurance for the year starting November 1, 2015 and was forced to dispose of his firm.

He had since been employed as a consultant solicitor by another firm, which was aware of the pending disciplinary action.

The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority suspended Loveridge from practice for a year and ordered him to pay tribunal costs of £3,000.