A SOLICITOR turned Irish dancing coach who stole almost £10,000 from the legal firm who employed him to fund a drug habit has been given a suspended jail sentence.
Imposing a 10-month jail sentence on Christopher Owens at Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, Judge Geoffrey Miller QC said given his guilty plea and the steps he has taken to address his issues, it would be suspended it for a year.
At an earlier hearing Owens, from Woodrow Gardens in Saintfield, confessed to fraud by abuse of position between September 1 2015 and March 14 2018 while he was in a position of trust at Wilson Nesbitt Solicitors.
He generated false claims for expenses and paid the value of same to his own bank account to the value of £7,385.50.
While a second charge that Owens “intercepted cash sums paid by clients for retainer fees and paid the value of same to your own bank account to the value of £2,150.00” was left on the books by the prosecution, he accepted he had also stolen that money.
Summarising the case during his sentencing remarks, Judge Miller outlined how retainers from some clients were being paid directly to Owens but suspicions were raised when those clients realised the money they had already paid had not been taken off their final bills.
That prompted an internal investigation which revealed the frauds and alerted the police who arrested and questioned Owens.
He admitted that he had defrauded the firm by claiming for swearing spurious affidavits, fake travel expenses and that some clients were paying money directly into his account.
He said he did this “to fund a drugs habit”.
While the Crown case amounted to just under £10,000, Judge Miller revealed that Owens has repaid £12,005.
Turning the probation pre-sentence report, the judge said it was clear that Owens, “a gifted and intelligent man,” had come from a happy and settled family but that with the strain of his studies and coming out to his family, he began to drink to excess and to turn to drugs.
“By virtue of these offences he has destroyed any prospect he may have had in continuing in this profession and building and flourishing career,” said the judge who added that while the offences were aggravated by the breach of trust and the lengthy period of offences, there was mitigation in Owens plea, remorse and restitution.