Jail for solicitor who stole aunt's money

A Fife solicitor who took more than £269,000 of his elderly aunt's money while holding power of attorney over her finances has been sentenced to eight months in prison.

William Walls took the money over a period of nearly nine years up to 2013 to try and keep his practice afloat. He was sole principal of McQuittys in Cupar, which had a judicial factor appointed that year after a Law Society of Scotland inspection revealed irregularities in the firm's accounts.

At an earlier hearing Dundee Sheriff Court was told that Walls had on occasions withdrawn cash from his aunt's account and taken it straight to his own bank.

Simon Collins, for Walls, said Walls had cooperated and sold property so the money could be repaid. He had not acted to supplement his lifestyle.

Walls (62) was suspended from practice following the Society's intervention and finally struck off by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal last month.

Sheriff Alastair Brown told Walls his dishonesty was "substantial" and required a prison sentence, which was discounted from a year in view of his early guilty plea.