Solicitor escapes jail following early plea to fraud

A former Airdrie solicitor has escaped a prison sentence following an early guilty plea to obtaining money by fraud from clients and his manager.

David Nightingale (32), then with McAfee Solicitors but now no longer on the roll of solicitors, was lent a total of £12,500 over a 15 month period between 2011 and 2012, which he claimed was needed to prevent his father being evicted from his home for mortgage arrears.

In fact the cash was used to feed Nightingale's gambling addiction and none of it has been recovered.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court yesterday Nightingale was ordered to perform 300 hours of unpaid community work, pay back £7,000 to his victims, undergo treatment for his addiction and be kept under supervision for two years.

Sheriff David Bicket said he was disappointed to see someone he had thought of as a promising young solicitor end up in that position. A prison sentence would have been "inevitable" if Nightingale had not pleaded early.

Nightingale's solicitor had told the court that he had other debts of £15,000 but that if he was allowed to keep his current job at a call centre, he could repay the money.