A MERSEYSIDE solicitor was struck off yesterday for using client’s money to pay off his huge tax bill.
Colin Caplan, of Hornby Lane, Mossley Hilll, ran up a £65,689 defecit in his firm’s client account. From that he paid more than £31,217 to the Inland Revenue, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard.
Stuart Turner, prosecuting for the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), told the hearing: “He failed to respond to the forensic investigator. He failed to respond to correspondence from the Legal Complaints Service.”
Caplan ran St Helens firm Ashcroft & Co. His offices were raided last year by the SRA and his practising certificate was suspended in September.
Tribunal chairman William Hartley ordered him to be struck off without making any extra comment.
Caplan did not appear but admitted a series of allegations. He was ordered to pay £10,215 costs.
