VERDICT OF GUILTY

Hokitika Guardian, 1 June 1931, Page 5

VERDICT OF GUILTY

AGAINST SOLICITOR AND CLERK. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association) jsKW PLYMOUTH, May 31 Pouml guilty o{ the theft of trust funds totalling between seven and eight thousand 1 sterling between December 1927, and last January, Harold John Mottle Thomson, solicitor, of Inglewood, and Samuel .11 chert Darlow, h's law clerk, were cm Saturday night remanded for sentence by Mr Justice Reed. There were originally in the joint indictment twenty charges, divided into sixty counts, but the Judge advised the jury thaT. it would he unsafe to convict on three counts relating to an advance of £l5O in 1929, as it was possible that it was a personal loan fo Thomson. The verdict did not include these items. The jury returned in thirty minutes. The hearing occupied two dnvs and two evenings, and the numerous witnesses included Thomson and Darlow, who denied them. Thomson denied any knowledge that the books were in the hopeless s- j described 1 by an accountant appointed by the Law Society to investigate the position. He also denied living extravagantly. The evidence was that the defalcation extended as far back as 1927. C. jj Yi’yndward, accountant, stating that | lO did not trace all the trouble to its origin. He estimated the total defalcations at possibly £12,000. Many of the wetnesses told of tiansactions. including loans and sales, through the firm, and of never leeelit ing the money. It is understood that the Solicitors’ Guarantee Fund will reimburse the clients in respect of the sums lost since the coming into force of the Solicitois Fidelity Fund Act, but this will cover only a portion f f the l.,ss.