A claims handler convicted of raping a teenage boy has been banned from the legal profession.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority today announced that Alex Wilson-Fletcher (pictured) will not be allowed to work for any solicitor’s practice in future, without seeking permission from the regulator.

The 45-year-old was convicted in April 2013 of the rape of a boy aged 14 in a department store in Manchester city centre.

Wilson-Fletcher had worked as a claims handler at national firm Hill Dickinson from 2009 until September 2012, when he was dismissed.

The SRA stressed that his offences took place outside the firm’s offices and outside working hours.

The SRA notice said: ‘We find that Alex Wilson-Fletcher is or was involved in a legal practice (as defined by section 43 (1A) of the Solicitors Act 1974) but is not a solicitor and has been convicted of criminal offences which are such that in the opinion of the [Law] Society it would be undesirable for him to be involved in a legal practice.’

Wilson-Fletcher and another man had approached the boy on a busy Saturday afternoon in the toilets at the Arndale Centre.

They walked him out the centre, across the road and into the toilets of the store where the boy was raped and assaulted.

Wilson-Fletcher was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a term that was reduced to 13 years by the Court of Appeal.

The crime sparked a nationwide manhunt and shock across the Manchester community.