Bid to claw back cash from solicitor who stole nearly £2m

Hugh Lansdell, 74, was jailed for four years after he admitted fraud by abuse of position while a senior partner at Norfolk firm Hansells, he took a total of £1,963,659.44.

It was after being conned into thinking he had won a Spanish postcode lottery and needed the cash to secure his winnings.

Norwich Crown Court heard that after exhausting his and his wife's money to make payments to the fraudulent scheme, Lansdell began taking money from the accounts of clients at his firm.

Norwich Crown Court (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)Between August 21 2015 and July 26 2017, Lansdell, was responsible for making 72 transactions out of client accounts, worth a total value of £1,963,659.44. 

Hugh Lansdell (Image: Newsquest)After he was jailed on Friday (September 22) the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed confiscation proceedings will follow as part of Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) proceedings.

Emma Beazley, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: “After falling victim to a scam himself, Hugh Lansdell exploited his significant position of trust as a senior partner to take an extraordinary amount of money from clients.

“The CPS is committed to working with police to bring fraudulent offenders to justice and will be pursuing confiscation proceedings in this case.”

Proceeds of crime refers to assets, funds and property gained through criminal activity and the CPS has the power to confiscate these assets under the Act.

The court heard how Lansdell, of The Close, Norwich - who was a devout Christian - had wanted to use the money he thought he had won to give money to his local church so it could be renovated and create a hostel in Norwich.

Jailing Lansdell, Recorder John Hardy said Lansdell had "suffered a spectacular fall from grace" and was now "broken".

He told Lansdell he had betrayed not only his clients and family but solicitors in general, insisting "your conduct had besmirched the entire profession".