Pillar of local life was a thief

Huxtable was a respected member of Barnstaple life

Solicitor Philip Huxtable was thought to be the pillar of the establishment in Barnstaple, but he turned out to be nothing more than a common thief.

He had his own law firm, was a high ranking mason and drove a Range Rover.

People entrusted Huxtable - who once charged £1,000 for a single phone call - with their intimate details, not knowing he just wanted their money.

On Wednesday he was convicted on 11 counts of theft from dead clients' wills, totalling more than £250,000.

Civilian fraud investigator Harry Sleeman investigated Huxtable and his firm Pitts Tuckers for Devon and Cornwall Police after a complaint was made to the Law Society.

We went to Huxtable because he was our family solicitor for years. I completely trusted him Christine Tucker

He said: "What he did was steal this money by overcharging in order to keep his business afloat, which was not doing well. It's not complicated.

"It's exactly the same as a builder who comes round, offers to fix a roof tile and charges you a fortune for work he doesn't do."

Bournemouth Crown Court heard Huxtable would bill for the same work twice even when there was no work done.

He also took money from clients' accounts but did not send the clients invoices. He would then put the invoice on file to make it look as if the books were in order.

Christine Tucker, 48, went to Huxtable for probate work when her agricultural engineer husband Paul, 42, died in a car accident.

Phillip Huxtable milked dead people's wills

Mrs Tucker said: "We went to Huxtable because he was our family solicitor for years. I completely trusted him.

"But after we handed everything over to him I never received any of the money which he was supposed to be sorting out for us.

"My husband's business collapsed when he died and I was forced into taking benefits to look after our four daughters.

"We found it financially a massive strain and I'm still angry."

The Law Society, which closed down Pitts Tuckers in 2001, called the crimes "disgraceful" and said Huxtable "abused the absolute trust of clients on a shocking scale".

There were 250 applications for compensation of which 15 remain outstanding.

Nick Loosemore, who is owed money for building work at Pitts Tuckers offices, said: "We feel justice has been done, but it is small compensation for all the money we are owed."