A Newcastle solicitor whose fraudulent activity led to a three-year prison sentence has agreed she should be struck off the roll.

Madasser Hussain was banned following a one-day hearing where the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard details of her conviction in 2019. Hussain, admitted as a solicitor in 2002, was convicted of fraud and perverting the course of public justice at Newcastle Crown Court and released from prison last August.

The court heard that Hussain and her husband were involved with a takeaway known as Spice and invested a sum of money into the business. After she became involved in a dispute with the owners, alleging she and her husband were owed £60,000, they created false documentation for the purposes of placing a legal charge on the property to recoup the debt.

Hussain and her husband created a form CH1 and other relevant property documents, created a client file for the owners without their instructions, and involved a former work colleague to register the charge.

The fraud came to light in 2014 when the owners identified the charge and asked for it to be removed – a request Hussain and her husband refused. The matter was reported by the owners to HM Land Registry and police.

In sentencing, His Honour Judge Batiste said Hussain, who had pleaded not guilty, was a ‘clever, confident, cunning and, when required, manipulative individual’. The involvement of her former colleague, who Hussain blamed for her wrongdoing, was designed to distance herself from the charge and give a veneer of legitimacy to what was taking place.

Hussain accepted she should be struck off, but in mitigation told the tribunal she had reflected on her actions in prison and described her conduct now as ‘completely wrong’, saying that it reflected her naivety and she was now embarrassed by what she had done.

The tribunal agreed Hussain should be struck off and pay £1,150 costs.

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