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Solicitor jailed for £160,000 fraud on her firm

An England-and-Wales solicitor who defrauded her employer of £160,000 has been jailed for three years.  

Fiona Parsons (54) of Cornwall, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position at Worcester Crown Court, the England and Wales Gazette reports. 

Parsons, an associate property solicitor with Hereford firm Lambe Corner, directed more than 300 clients to pay money into her own personal bank account rather than to the firm. 

The fraud was traced back to September 2020, when two house buyers were asked to pay £400 into an account to pay for property searches.  

Two years later, the couple began to receive bills from the firm saying they still owed money.   

Officers from Hereford CID and West Mercia’s economic- crime unit uncovered multiple similar incidents with the same method that which stretched through to March 2023, when Parsons was arrested.  

Following her sentence, Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings are now underway. 

Custodial sentence

Detective Constable Cathryn Blake of Hereford CID said: ‘We are pleased to get this custodial sentence at court for Parsons, whose fraudulent activities cost a law firm just over £160,000 over a three-year period. Her actions not only put customers out of pocket, but the business too, and it was not only an abuse of her position as a solicitor, but also an abuse of trust. 

Fiona Hunter Blair Parsons, admitted in 1998, has been the subject of interim practising conditions since 2023.  

She will now be subject to disciplinary proceedings by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.