'Utterly dishonest' solicitor Timothy Schools jailed for £20m fraud

About 500 investors lost more than £100m as a result of Timothy Schools' scam

A solicitor who siphoned almost £20m of investors' money from a legal financing fund has been jailed for 14 years.

Timothy Schools, from Penrith, Cumbria, used the money to fund a luxury lifestyle, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The 61-year-old, who has been struck off the solicitor's register, had a boat, luxury cars and a £5m fishing and shooting estate in the Lake District.

Sentencing Schools on Thursday, Judge Martin Beddoe said he was an "utterly dishonest man".

He told him: "As the case has unfolded I have no doubt, I am sure that you always saw this as a get rich quick scheme."

The court heard the 61-year-old had set up Axiom Legal Financing Fund, based in the Cayman Islands, in 2009 to provide loans to law firms pursuing no-win, no-fee cases.

But, as investment manager for the fund, he diverted money to himself.

'Complex web of lies'

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which investigates serious or complex fraud, said the cases Axiom funded often failed at court and case insurance policies failed to pay out.

Schools covered this up by using new loans to repay old loans, giving the false impression to directors, administrators and auditors that law firms were successfully repaying their loans and achieving returns on investment.

The SFO said about 500 investors lost a total of over £100m with 35,000 clients also affected.

Investors were told their loans would be given to a panel of high-quality law firms but £40m of the funds were paid to just three - ATM, Ashton Fox and Bracewell's - all of which Schools either owned or held undisclosed interests in.

He used money received by ATM to pay himself a salary of over £1m, consultancy fees and other personal benefits, and funds were also hidden in offshore bank accounts, the SFO said.

With the proceeds of his crimes, Schools spent:

• £3.3m on a hunting and fishing estate in Cumbria

• £2.5m on renovating that property

• £5.5m on a mansion in the Mont-Tremblant ski resort in Canada

• £262,000 on a series of luxury cars

• £78,000 on motor boat - which he named Tangerine Dream, in honour of Blackpool Football Club

• £60,000 on a private box at Blackpool FC's stadium

• £55,000 on the services of a personal trainer

Director Lisa Osofsky said Schools "deliberately abused his position of trust to enrich himself".

She said: "Through a complex web of lies, he attempted to hide his fraudulent activity, while spending other people's hard earned money."

He was convicted earlier this week of fraudulent trading, fraud by abuse of position and money laundering.

Schools has also been disqualified from being a director of a company for 15 years and struck off the solicitor's register.