Darwen solicitor suspended indefinitely (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Darwen solicitor suspended indefinitely

6:30pm Thursday 11th March 2010 in

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A SOLICITOR convicted of assaulting his mother wrote letters to his governing body claiming he had dealt with cases involving Britney Spears and George W Bush, a tribunal heard.

John Cank, 36, also claimed the lawyer investigating him had been charged with possession of firearms.

He sent the correspondence after he was given a suspended sentence for common assault at Bury Crown Court, the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal was told.

Stephen Battersby, for the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, said: “He caused his mother comparatively minor injuries, but an injury which caused her lip to bleed uncontrollably for a number of hours.

“This was not the first time that Mr Cank had used violence towards his mother because he had been caution for it previously.'

Cank was given a 36 week sentence suspended for two years and a two year supervision order after he was convicted of causing actual bodily harm by the jury.

He attacked his mother Dorothy, 64, who was in sheltered accomodation, because she would not lend him £5.

Sentencing Cank, Judge Christopher Cornwall told him the evidence against him had been 'utterly overwhelming' and the jury's verdict was 'unquestionably correct.'

Cank then responded to correspondence from the SRA with a series of bizarre letters making entirely false accusations about one of the solicitors, Paul Milton.

Cank said: “Paul Milton was charged with a very serious criminal offences some time ago, including threatening behaviour and possession of an AK8 handgun.”

He also sent the tribunal ‘transcripts’ of the cases he had dealt with involving the pop star and the former president.

Cank, of Birch Hall Avenue, Darwen, was found to have behaved in a way that was likely to diminish the trust of the public in him and in the reputation of the solicitor's profession following his conviction.

The tribunal heard he was not working as a solicitor and was claiming benefits.

Tribunal chairman David Glass said: “The nature of the correspondence we have seen is alarming.”

Cank was suspended indefinitely and ordered to pay costs of £1,550.