A FORMER partner in a Burnley solicitors’ firm has pleaded guilty to stealing from clients as part of a fraud which prosecutors say tops £1million.

Kimberley Bridge, 42, has admitted to theft of credit balances while helping to run the former SFN Solicitors, then based in the town’s Red Lion Street.

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She has also confessed to false accounting between May 2006 and October 2012 and three charges of making an article for use in fraud after an investigation by Lancashire Police.

Her pleas were first entered several weeks ago but can only be reported now after her sister, Nicola Roach, admitted her own role in stealing from the now-defunct company. Bridge’s legal team disputes the extent of the losses which the CPS has alleged.

Roach, 34, of Bramley Avenue, Burnley, denied false accounting but admitted to theft of £141,741 in credit balances over the same time period.

Prosecutor Andrew West said that those plea were acceptable to the prosecution and the case needed to be adjourned for reports to be prepared by forensic accountants acting on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service and defence.

Four or five witnesses could be required to give evidence before the sentencing hearing on April 7 next year, depending on the outcome of the accountants’ reports, the court heard.

Paul Williams, defending for Roach, said: “She is at present a single mother-of-one child and has some quite serious medical issues.”

Remanding Roach on bail for sentence, Judge Christopher Cornwall said: “I make it plain that all sentencing options, up to and including the loss of your liberty, remain open to the court which deals with you.”

Bridge, of Cumbrian Way, Burnley, and Roach have already been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after a hearing earlier this year, which found they had breached a number of official regulations.

The firm’s other partners, Charles McNabb and Tracy Stansfield, were also formally reprimanded by the same watchdog for related professional breaches.

Back in October 2012, SFN’s practice was wound up by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the company’s files handed over to a third party.