Worked for same law firm
A pair of legal workers have been barred from the profession after they were jailed for dealing class A drugs.
Alexandra Ditcham and Jordan Heeley both worked as case managers for conveyancing outfit O’Neill Patient Solicitors when police raided their house in April 2021. The search turned up “items related to the use and sale of illegal drugs”, with a subsequent investigation determining that the pair “supplied or arranged to supply drugs for profit”.
Almost exactly two years later the duo pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine, with Heeley also admitting to “concealing, disguising, converting, transferring, or removing criminal property”, and were convicted at Crewe Magistrates’ Court. They received a 28-month prison sentence each.
At the time, the Manchester Evening News reported His Honour Judge Steven Everett as saying: “You have fantastic references from supportive family and friends, many professionals, many who are utterly dismayed you are in this position, that you are good people. But despite all of that, you made a financial decision that you were going to make some money selling cocaine.”
“It does not matter” he continued, that the pair only sold cocaine to “friends or acquaintances”, “you are selling to other people, cocaine users for profit and a pretty significant profit. In my judgement I do not think it was low level, this was a significant profit, making around £5,000 per month, effectively tax free.”
“You would have made £60,000 a year on top of your salaries. It just shows that the profits that can be made even if you are selling to a relatively small circle of friends and acquaintances.”
“I have taken into account your naivety, your stupidity but you are no different from many that appear before me and you have to be treated the same way.”
Now, however, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has imparted its own sanction on the pair. Although they are not lawyers, those working in law firms like Ditcham and Heeley are still subject to the regulator’s oversight.
Whilst they can’t be struck off, they have both been disqualified from holding any employed position at a law firm without the SRA’s prior approval.
They have also been ordered to pay £600 of investigation costs each.
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