Dock brief revisited

Not a happy place for solicitors

A solicitor who admitted stealing more than £1.7 million from his clients was struck off this month, as the Law Society Gazette reported yesterday. Christopher Michael Bilmes, 45, became an ex-solicitor on the very day he was sentenced to more than four-and-a-half years in prison.

No surprise there — although Bilmes was sentenced more than two months after he was convicted. But the case reminded me about the solicitors I worked for during my pre-university gap year, who also ended up in the dock.

Some paid subscribers to this blog may recall what happened because I wrote about it here nearly 18 months ago. But there were rather fewer of you back in 2021 and I thought this slightly enhanced version of the story might interest readers who have bought a subscription since then.

It began in November 1969 when, trying to keep up with current affairs, I noticed a news item in The Times. It was about a couple named Browne who had received suspended sentences for mortgage fraud.

This was how the report began:

Judge Edward Sutcliffe, QC, directed at the Central Criminal Court yesterday that seven files belonging to Tyrrell Lewis & Co, solicitors, of Adelaide Street, Charing Cross, WC, should be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Times, 20 November 1969

As I read the story, a chill ran down my spine. I had spent several months working as an outdoor clerk for Tyrrell Lewis the year before. Might the police soon be knocking at my door?