A fake 'solicitor' who doctored a practising certificate hung on a colleague's wall has been convicted of deception charges at Leicester Crown Court.

Megalambal Arumugan was given a three-year conditional discharge two weeks ago after convincing former employers Bhatia Best in Nottingham that she had qualified as a solicitor.

Arumugan failed her legal practice course (LPC) but was mistakenly sent a letter from the College of Law telling her she had passed.

When the college corrected its mistake a few days later - asking her to return the letter - she took a photocopy which she had certified by another law firm.

Rather than re-sitting the LPC exam, she used the letter to transfer her training contract at Markandan & Co Ltd in London, which was conditional on passing the exam, to a training contract with Bhatia Best.

When the training period was over, she created a fake practising certificate using one hanging in a clipframe on a partner's wall.

Borrowing documents from another colleague's desk, she cut out letters and created a certificate in her own name using the photocopier.

The Law Society revealed it had not issued a certificate for Arumugam when the firm applied to renew its practising certificates.

She made a full confession to senior partner Ashish Bhatia, who notified the police.

Mr Bhatia said: 'Megalambal presented herself to us as the genuine article and produced all the necessary paperwork, which we kept a record of.'

Detective Inspector Nigel Hallam, who handled the case, said: 'Bhatia Best has been made to look foolish through no fault of its own.'

Rachel Rothwell