A solicitor has been struck off for a catalogue of errors including borrowing £20,000 from an elderly woman and not paying it back.

A disciplinary tribunal also heard Anthony Thipthorpe, 60, failed to safeguard a family's interests during a probate dispute which allegedly cost them £50,000.

Mr Thipthorpe, who had worked from Weston Road, Southend, wept as the tribunal heard the accusations had brought an end to his 38-year marriage. He intends to appeal against the decision.

Law Society representative Jon Goodwin said Mr Thipthorpe had breached the professional rules by allowing Mary Hamilton-Birch to lend him money without making sure she had taken independent legal advice.

Mr Goodwin said the cash came in two stages and it appeared Mr Thipthorpe had not repaid the woman, who is now 84.

In another incident, Mr Thipthorpe failed to represent Roger Clark's family in the High Court during a probate dispute about his mother's home - a potential inheritance of £50,000.

The tribunal also heard Mr Thipthorpe failed to keep proper accounts and withdrew money from clients' accounts and used it for his own purposes.

Mr Goodwin added the breaches were "serious in themselves but even more serious taken together".

Mr Thipthorpe admitted the accusations but said he was "overwhelmed" with work at the time. He insisted he had told Mrs Hamilton-Birch to take independent advice but she "pooh-poohed" the idea.

He said: "I was in an impossible situation. I felt as though I was drowning. I had something like 2,000 files. I was being bombarded. It was a dreadful period."

Tribunal chairman David Faull said: "It was a very, very serious case indeed in which he had broken a cardinal rule of the profession that money should not be borrowed from clients without them being told to seek independent advice."

Thipthorpe, a solicitor since 1972, was ordered to pay £5,000 costs. His ban has been suspended until January 14 so that he can sort out his paperwork.

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