Lawman siphoned clients' cash

Forster was sent to prison to await sentence later this month

A former honorary sheriff is in prison facing a jail sentence after admitting embezzling £667,000.

Kennedy Forster, 54, who was a senior partner in a family law firm in Stranraer, pleaded guilty to 40 charges at the High Court in Glasgow.

For nearly a decade, he took money from clients' wills and robbed charity and church legacies of thousands of pounds.

The judge, Lord Emslie, refused bail and remanded him in custody to be sentenced later this month.

Lord Emslie said he had taken regard of the "number, nature and gravity of the charges".

Forster's not guilty pleas to another 55 charges totalling £300,000 were accepted by the Crown.

This is an example of the society doing its job well and taking every effort to ensure that the public are protected from any rogue solicitor Joe Platt President, Law Society of Scotland

The court heard that much of the money was used to buy a farm to turn it into a housing development.

It the prosecution almost two-and-a-half hours to outline the case against the father-of-five, whose legal firm at one time employed 25 staff with branches in Whithorn and Newton Stewart.

Advocate depute Mark Stewart said: "The accused enjoyed a good lifestyle, living in a large house with an outdoor swimming pool and professionally landscaped grounds.

"He took regular foreign holidays. He sent all five children to boarding school.

"There is no doubt he was stealing to fund his lifestyle and that of his family."

Compensation stolen

Forster took £64,000 from the legacy of a man who bequeathed the money to Portpatrick Parish Church, the Dalrymple Hospital Patients' Fund, two charities for cancer and disabled people and the Portpatrick branch of the RNLI.

He also took almost £5,000 awarded to a 17-year-old who was injured in a road accident.

Forster was caught after a farmer's widow complained to the Law Society of Scotland that he had overcharged her by £8,500 for a sheriff court civil action between her and her son in 1995.

Auditors were sent in and Forster was prosecuted before the independent Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal in 2001.

It instructed him to be struck from the roll of solicitors in Scotland.

Insurance policy

After Forster appeared in court on Wednesday, Law Society President Joe Platt said: "This is an example of the society doing its job well and taking every effort to ensure that the public are protected from any rogue solicitor.

"John Kennedy-Forster [the accused's full name] embezzled clients' money, was dishonest and has no place in the Scottish solicitors' profession.

"Losses sustained by clients have been dealt with under the Master Policy for Insurance to which all solicitors in practice in Scotland subscribe."