British Lawyer scams Zimbabwe farmers of thousands of pounds

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A South Tyneside Lawyer in the UK has been struck off for conning Zimbabwean farmers out of thousands of pounds. John Asher Lockwood told desperate farmers who had been evicted from their land by the Zimbabwean government that he could help them claim compensation from the Britishgovernment. But a tribunal heard yesterday that he made no effort to push forward with the multi-party action he had offered the farmers, and failed to answer their calls and letters when they started to become concerned. Each farmer was asked to pay a non-refundable deposit of £1,000 and sign an agreement entitling Mr Lockwood to a percentage of any compensation they won. Mr Lockwood also told the farmers that he was a partner in a firm based in South Shields, despite only recently completing his training. He, in fact, left the firm in 2001, but continued to encourage his clients to sign up for the litigation. Mr Lockwood was not present at the hearing at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), despite having been notified by the court both by letter and through a newspaper advertisement. Acting for the SRA, George Marriot said that Mr Lockwood's absence coupled with his last communication with the SRA, might give the impression "that he really couldn't care less" in any event. Mr Lockwood, 46, who is now believed to be living Washington, was found guilty of two allegations of dishonesty, including the misappropriation of clients' funds and passing himself off as a partner in a law firm. The board also found proven that he had persuaded his clients to enter into an unlawful agreement, had breached his professional code and failed to progress any of the matters he had been contracted to do. The tribunal heard that Mr Lockwood received legal advice from a QC about his proposed compensation claim, who said that the route to apply for the money was no longer available. But Mr Marriot said: "He hid behind privilege to avoid releasing any further details of the possible success of the litigation either to his clients or to investigators." Mr Marriot added that when Mr Lockwood left the firm for whom he was working and the account into which the farmers had paid their deposits was closed, at least £27,000 disappeared. Twenty-seven Zimbabwean farmers proved that they paid money into the account, but investigators believe there could be more. Mr Marriot said: "I would ask the court to draw the inference that Mr Lockwood took the money for his own personal gain." Mr Lockwood was ordered to pay costs of £10,380 and struck off the roll of solicitors.