A CROOKED solicitor has sold his luxury £595,000 farmhouse to avoid a further three years in prison.

Shamed Philip Pressler, 53, of Higher Whittlestone Farm, Darwen, was jailed for five years in August 2004 after admitting 36 counts of theft and asking for another 11 to be taken into consideration.

He swindled more than £759,000 from clients and charities while working as senior partner at Darwen solicitors Hindle, Son and Cooper, Church Street.

His crimes spanned a ten-year period - between 1991 and 2001 - and dozens of grieving families who thought money from their loved one's wills had been given to charity discovered it had, instead, been transferred into Pressler's private accounts.

When Pressler was sentenced at Preston Crown Court, Judge Anthony Russell made a confiscation order on his assets so that £690,000 could be recovered to cover clients' lost cash, and the costs of the case.

And he warned that failure to pay would result in him serving an extra three years at Kirkham Prison.

However, with the sale of his five-bedroom farmhouse being confirmed this week, Pressler could be released by the end of the year.

Det Sgt Graham Norris, from Lancashire Police's major crime unit, who led the original investigation, said he hoped the sale of Higher Whittlestone Farm would provide some sort of closure for Pressler's victims.

He said: "Pressler committed some diabolical crimes and affected people and families in a big way.

"He systematically abused their trust and ripped off lots and lots of people.

"His house was restrained under the powers that were put on him when he was charged, and its sale should at least provide a bit of closure for those affected.

"Whatever mortgage is left on the property will have to be settled first, but then the remainder of the money will be administered by the Criminal Confiscation Bureau who will compensate the Law Society for the money they have paid out to victims.

"The confiscation order works on a sliding scale - the more money he can pay back, the less extra time he will have to serve."

Pressler's crimes included taking £20,000 from a cancer victim in 1998, stealing £28,000 from another family to buy a villa in Tenerife and attempting to use £50,000 of his clients' money to buy shares in bookmakers William Hill.

The Law Society, which regulates the industry, has paid almost a million pounds to Pressler's victims from its compensation fund.