Former solicitor jailed for forging wills

A former solicitor has been sentenced to four years and two months in jail after admitting he forged clients’ wills to cover his tracks.

Bangor-based Peter Charles Davies cost clients a total of £241,000, in what Judge Rhys Rowlands said was a "quite shocking breach of trust".

Davies admitted seven charges including fraud and forgery between 2010 and 2016 at Mold Crown Court in May.

The charges included two counts of forgery, concealing criminal property and using a false instrument by submitting a forged will to a probate registry.

Davies was struck off in 2017 after taking the money from retired headmaster Albert Alun Williams under a power of attorney after he had died.

Davies did not tell the bank Williams had died and withdrew up to £300 a day from the deceased pensioner’s account.

He then drew up false wills for other deceased clients to pay off the legitimate beneficiaries of the first estate.

Rowlands J told Mold Crown Court that Davies was receiving an average of £48,000 a year for five years via such practices.

“Quite what you did with all that money, only you know,” the judge said, according to the North Wales live website.

“But the overwhelming inference is that it was not expended on everyday living expenses or debts. The effects on others have been profound.”

The court heard that a total of £44,000 has since been repaid and Davies’ lawyer said that, although the defendant had amassed debts, there was no extravagant lifestyle.

Nevertheless, an investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act will take place.