A Manchester solicitor accused of stealing nearly £1 million from a disabled client has claimed the money was given to him as a thank you gift.


Thomas McGoldrick, a 59-year-old former partner at McGoldricks, is currently on trial in Manchester. He represented van driver Keith Anderson who was paralysed from the waist down in a road accident in November 1996. Mr McGoldrick's firm secured him £1.8 million in compensation and the prosecution alleges that the solicitor stole half that sum to cover his firm's mounting debts.



Mr McGoldrick claims his client gave him the money to thank him for his help with the case. He says the client signed a letter - which the prosecution alleges is forged - to confirm this intention.



Mr McGoldrick has denied 53 charges of false accounting, two counts of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception, one count of forgery and one count of money laundering between December 1999 and September 2004.



The Law Society intervened in the firm in December 2004 and closed it down. Mr McGoldrick's solicitors declined to comment.



Catherine Baksi