Revenge blackmail attempt leads to solicitor being struck off

A solicitor has been struck from the roll after serving a prison term for attempted extortion from a person who he claimed had sexually abused him as a child.

Michael Wright, a former legal adviser to the justice of the peace court in Livingston, was prosecuted before the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal following his conviction for sending a threatening letter demanding payment of £25,000, for which he was sentenced to 12 months in prison. The addressee had taken the letter to the police.

Mr Wright, who remained on the roll of solicitors although he no longer held a practising certificate, did not defend the disciplinary charge, and the tribunal considered that his letters in which he expressed remorse "did not demonstrate any real insight into the seriousness of a solicitor being involved in this kind of conduct".

In the circumstances the tribunal concluded that he was not a fit and proper person to be a solicitor and struck his name from the roll.

Click here to view the tribunal's decision.