Former Norwich solicitor jailed for four years after defrauding clients of almost £2m

74 year old Hugh Lansdell admitted taking money from clients accounts after getting caught up in a lottery scam

Hugh Lansdell worked at Norwich firm Hansells at the time of the offending - he has since been struck off
Author: Matt SoanesPublished 22nd Sep 2023

A former Norwich solicitor has been handed a four year prison sentence after defrauding clients at his law firm of almost £2m.

74 year old Hugh Lansdell admitted fraud by abuse of position at Norwich Crown Court.

Lansdell was a senior partner at the time of the offences, with responsibility for looking after clients money.

In April 2015 Lansdell was told he'd won a postcode lottery in Spain and was told to pay a fee to release his winnings.

In fact he'd been caught in a common type of scam.

After exhausting his savings Lansdell started dipping into client accounts.

Between 21 August 2015 and 26 July 2017 he made 72 transactions out of client accounts, with a total value of over £1.9m.

When concerns were raised about the money being moved Lansdell made excuses and claimed to have invested the cash elsewhere.

He eventually came clean to managers at Norwich law firm Hansells.

Emma Beazley, Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (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.”

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