A bent lawyer forced a 200-year-old firm of Yorkshire solicitors into extinction by plundering its accounts of almost £4m to fund her luxury lifestyle.

Linda Box, 67, was jailed for seven years after a court heard she stole from client accounts at Wakefield-based Dixon, Coles and Gill.

Box was a senior partner at the historic firm and abused her position to fund her high-living lifestyle and love of clothes shopping.

She also took advantage of her role as a “pillar of the church” when she was registrar with the Diocese of Wakefield to steal £63,000 of Church of England cash belonging to the Bishop of Wakefield’s Fund and diverted other church funds for herself.

Leeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

Leeds Crown Court heard the total value of the 12-year deception was £4,055,329.

Nadim Bashir, prosecuting, said Box used the money to fund her “obsession” for buying clothes, including holding a special account with Harrods.

She and family enjoyed £800-a-night stays at the The Ritz in London and a collection of vintage wines for her son worth £800,000.

Sums of illegally obtained cash also went on funding mortgage redemptions for relatives, private school fees for her grandchild and landscaping work at her home.

Other spending included holidays abroad – on one occasion £11,000 for her family to enjoy visiting the Edinburgh Festival.

Box also paid £236,554 to a marketing and public relations firm which did work for her husband’s firm of funeral directors.

Illegally obtained cash was even used to cover her tax liabilities and pay council tax bills.

Box also forged the signature of another solicitor on probate documents as part of her offending and forged the signature of another colleague in order to access a trust fund.

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Box, of Halifax Road, Dewsbury, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud, two of forgery and one of theft.

Jailing her Mr Justice Mr Justice Blake said it was a tale of misplaced trust “all because of your unrestrained and out of control greed.”

The offending had begun as long ago as 2002 when for the next seven years she abused her position as both a respected solicitor and as an official of the church, stealing money from the Bishop of Wakefield Fund and “diverting large sums of church money into personal accounts.” The loss to the church was £250,000.

But he said the bulk of her offending happened between 2010 and 2015 when she misappropriated large sums of money from client funds “to pay for personal expenses for yourself and members of your family.”

Jailed Linda Box
Jailed lawyer Linda Box who stole almost £4million to fund her luxury lifestyle

Over those 58 months she misappropriated £3m to pay credit cards “for luxury items you could ill-afford.”

That included jewellery, £800,000 on vintage wines, stays at luxury hotels, and holidays.

She had accepted dishonesty when confronted by her partners but the scale and enormity of the breach of trust which was “staggering” only emerged when the investigation was carried out.

The judge said 75 individual client files, many involving estates of deceased and 10 files relating the church, showed misappropriation. She had fobbed off anxious relatives when they made inquiries about such funds, diverting the money to herself.

The mother of one deceased client said: “How can there be a more vile crime than pretending to be my friend when I was obviously overwhelmed with grief.” She was considered a pillar of the church and totally trustworthy.

Joe Hingston for Box said: “Through me she has asked to express her complete remorse for what she has done and she recognises the devastating impact of her behaviour, the wholesale breach of trust and as much as she is able she will make every endeavour to compensate the victims in this case.”

She had already been struck off after more than 40 years as a solicitor.

“Her reputation lies in ruins,” said Mr Hingston. “This was a course of conduct which simply spiralled out of control.”

The firm, which had offices in Wakefield and Horbury, shut is doors in January last year after more than 200 years of practising law after a fraud investigation was launched by police.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority stepped in four months later to formally prevent the firm from operating.

The court heard the Dixon, Coles and Gill building had now been sold off and staff had been made redundant as a result of Box’s offending.

Mr Bashir, prosecuting, said the offending came to light in December 2015 when another partner, Julian Gill, conducted a review and became concerned over a £5,000 payment from the client account.

Further checks revealed other payments, including some to Box’s American Express card account.

Police were contacted when it was revealed that over one million pounds was identified as being stolen.

The investigation also then uncovered Box’s offending while she was registrar and legal adviser to the Diocese of Wakefield.

Part of her role included looking after church funds.

Details of transactions in Box’s handwriting were found in a ledger book which purported to have been done on behalf of the Bishop of Wakefield Fund.

A total of £63,787 was paid from the fund into her own bank account.

Box was interviewed by police and admitted taking the money for her own personal use. She said her husband did not know about the offending.

Mr Bashir said: “She said she was excessive in her spending. She said it developed into an obsession.”

The prosecutor said victims of Box’s offending had been left devastated at the abuse of trust.

He added: “The consequences are enormous.”

Det Insp Dan Tillett from Wakefield District CID, said: “Box was incredibly deceitful, taking cash from the estates of the deceased and using it as her own to fund her lavish lifestyle. She preyed on vulnerable people at one of the most difficult times of their lives.”

A spokesman for the Diocese of Leeds said: “The crimes of Linda Box, former Registrar of the historic Diocese of Wakefield, have caused great sadness and distress to many people.

"It is those victims who, above all, deserve our sympathy today.

"Linda Box occupied a high position of trust within the former Diocese of Wakefield until her resignation in 2005.

"Her guilty pleas, while commendable for their swiftness, have prevented a full examination of what motivated Mrs Box to steal from and defraud those who put faith and trust in her apparent honesty and financial competence.”

The Bishop of Leeds, The Rt Revd Nick Baines said: “This has been a painful ordeal for all concerned and for whom we in the Church of England Diocese of Leeds continue to offer prayers and support.”