{"id":214702,"date":"2023-09-24T17:39:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T17:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestwnews.com\/?p=214702"},"modified":"2023-09-24T17:39:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T17:39:46","slug":"christian-solicitor-whole-stole-nearly-2m-from-clients-is-jailed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestwnews.com\/world-news\/christian-solicitor-whole-stole-nearly-2m-from-clients-is-jailed\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian solicitor whole stole nearly \u00a32m from clients is jailed"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Devout Christian solicitor who stole nearly \u00a32m from clients to chase Spanish lottery jackpot he had been duped into believing that he&#8217;d won is jailed for four years<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Hugh Lansdell, 74,\u00a0was a senior partner at Norfolk firm Hansells during the\u00a0fraud<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>The lawyer believed &#8216;God had answered his prayers&#8217; when he thought he&#8217;d won<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A devout Christian solicitor who stole \u00a31.85 million from his clients&#8217; accounts, in a bid to chase a Spanish lottery winnings he had been scammed into believing he&#8217;d won, has been jailed for four years.<\/p>\n<p>Hugh Lansdell, 74, was a senior partner at Norfolk firm Hansells when he stole the money between 2015 and 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The disgraced solicitor believed &#8216;God had answered his prayers&#8217; when he received a letter saying he was in line for \u00a3825,000 jackpot, but could only receive the winnings after making a \u00a341,000 payment for &#8216;non-resident tax&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The court heard that\u00a0Lansdell had &#8216;lost almost everything&#8217; after being declared bankrupt, as well as his wife after the lawyer lost her money too.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said he was &#8216;about as low as anyone could be&#8217; adding the case &#8216;could not be more tragic&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/17\/75783951-0-image-m-4_1695573599746.jpg\" height=\"614\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Disgraced lawyer\u00a0Hugh Lansdell, 74, was jailed for four years after\u00a0he admitted fraud by abuse of position<\/p>\n<p>Norwich Crown Court heard that the demands increased over time, with\u00a0Lansdell ultimately believing he was in line for more than \u00a310 million.<\/p>\n<p>Lansdell, of The Close, Norwich,\u00a0was struck off in 2019, after taking \u00a31.5 million from clients and another \u00a3350,000 from two charities where he was a trustee,<\/p>\n<p>The 74-year-old initially told the firm was being invested as part of a scheme that his sister-in-law had introduced him to.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The firm demanded that the funds be returned immediately after deeming his so-called investment &#8216;not appropriate&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>After failing to return the funds,\u00a0Lansdell was struck off, suffering a &#8216;spectacular fall from grace&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He was told his behaviour had &#8216;besmirched the entire profession&#8217; when he admitted fraud by abuse of position on Friday 22 September after pleading guilty earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Will Carter, defending, said his client was a broken man who said he intended to give the money to his local church for renovations and to establish a hostel in Norwich &#8211; was &#8216;blinded by his faith&#8217;, not greed.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/17\/75783949-0-image-a-2_1695573582376.jpg\" height=\"421\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Lansdell was a senior partner at Norfolk firm Hansells (pictured) when he stole the money between 2015 and 2017<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/17\/75783969-0-Lansdell_was_told_his_behaviour_had_besmirched_the_entire_profes-m-5_1695573773055.jpg\" height=\"669\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Lansdell was told his behaviour had &#8216;besmirched the entire profession&#8217; when he admitted fraud by abuse of position at\u00a0Norwich Crown Court (pictured) on Friday<\/p>\n<p>Mr Carter added that Lansdell,\u00a0who was &#8216;deeply religious&#8217; and a devout Christian\u00a0 had been a &#8216;victim&#8217; of fraud after believing that\u00a0&#8216;God was answering his prayers&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Recorder John Hardy said Lansdell had &#8216;suffered a spectacular fall from grace&#8217; and was now &#8216;broken&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8216;You&#8217;ve ended up in this position for one reason only and that was you yourself were a victim of an advance fee fraud&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Carter said the disgraced lawyer &#8216;lost almost everything&#8217;, including his wife and he now lived on his own having been declared bankrupt.<\/p>\n<p>The barrister said Lansdell had lost his own money, his wife&#8217;s money, his home, his friends, his self-esteem, and his reputation.<\/p>\n<p>He said he was &#8216;about as low as anyone could be&#8217;, adding that the case &#8216;could not be more tragic&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12555303\/Devout-Christian-solicitor-stole-Spanish-lottery-jackpot-jailed.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Devout Christian solicitor who stole nearly \u00a32m from clients to chase Spanish lottery jackpot he had been duped into believing that he&#8217;d won is jailed for four years Hugh Lansdell, 74,\u00a0was a senior partner at Norfolk firm Hansells during the\u00a0fraud The lawyer believed &#8216;God had answered his prayers&#8217; when he thought he&#8217;d won A devout Christian solicitor who stole \u00a31.85 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christian solicitor whole stole nearly \u00a32m from clients is jailed - Best World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestwnews.com\/world-news\/christian-solicitor-whole-stole-nearly-2m-from-clients-is-jailed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christian solicitor whole stole nearly \u00a32m from clients is jailed - Best World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Devout Christian solicitor who stole nearly \u00a32m from clients to chase Spanish lottery jackpot he had been duped into believing that he&#8217;d won is jailed for four years Hugh Lansdell, 74,\u00a0was a senior partner at Norfolk firm Hansells during the\u00a0fraud The lawyer believed &#8216;God had answered his prayers&#8217; 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