Solicitor struck off over exploitation of criminal client
A SOLICITOR has been struck off after a disciplinary tribunal found he had pressured a client into a £65,000 loan.
Sex offender and former company director Charles Kevin Irving Littleboy had met solicitor Stephen Paul Kettlewell in a pub.
Mr Kettlewell appeared before Northallerton Magistrates Court to represent Littleboy in late 2011.
He had told the Solicitors Regulation Authority that he did not handle or take any payment from clients .He told them in January 2012 that he was not practicing as a solicitor and that representing Littleboy initially was a “mistake”.
Despite this, Mr Kettlewell returned to court in order to represent him in March 2012, nd a legal advisor at Northallerton Magistrates Court brought it to the attention of the SRA
On this second appearance, he told the client he needed a £65,000 loan for a property in Spain, having already taken £5,000 from Littleboy for his first appearances.
The SRA found that he had been issuing European orders for payment through an unregulated body, Kettlewell Solutions Ltd.
The report said he had acted “without integrity” and had emailed the tribunal on the day of the hearing asking for confidentiality, citing ill health.
The tribunal said he could not come up with any evidence supporting this, and he had previously paid a £5,000 fine for dishonesty in 2008.
Mr Kettlewell was struck off after and he was ordered to pay £22,500 in costs.
