Shiner: Now facing a confiscation hearing
A judge yesterday handed disgraced human rights lawyer Phil Shiner a suspended jail sentence for fraud because he has “already suffered professional and personal ruin”.
“I do not consider it necessary to add to that by sending you straight to prison,” said His Honour Judge Hehir at Southwark Crown Court, sentencing Mr Shiner to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The one-time Law Society solicitor of the year pleaded guilty two months ago to three counts of fraud over legal aid applications for claims against British soldiers accused of ill treatment of Iraqi detainees.
The charges relate to applications for legal aid worth up to £200,000 made in 2007 without disclosing to the Legal Services Commission (now Legal Aid Agency) that his firm, Birmingham-based Public Interest Lawyers in Birmingham, had engaged an agent to cold call clients in Iraq and had also paid referral fees.
In addition, he provided a witness statement to the commission in support of his application which was again gained by an unsolicited approach.
As a result of the failure to disclose this information, Mr Shiner was able to gain a legal aid contract to enable him to pursue the judicial review. In total, the contract was worth £3m.
The charges relate to the fall-out from the al-Sweady inquiry, set up to examine claims that British troops in Iraq had massacred civilians in the so-called Battle of Danny Boy in 2004.
The inquiry, which cost £31m, cleared soldiers of the most serious allegations of unlawful killing, but found there had been some mistreatment of detainees.
Mr Shiner was struck off in 2017 after 22 charges of professional misconduct, including dishonesty and lack of integrity, were upheld against him.
He petitioned for bankruptcy the following month, declaring that he had no money to pay his creditors following the closure of his firm the previous year after its legal aid contracts were pulled.
Less than a year later, the bankruptcy restrictions were extended by five years over his efforts to deny paying creditors by gifting nearly £500,000 of assets to his family before declaring himself bankrupt.
HHJ Hehir said Mr Shiner’s offending was “so serious that only a custodial sentence is appropriate” but went on to explain why he had decided to suspend it.
“Firstly… your offending took place a very long time ago now, and you have not reoffended since. I do not consider that the long delay in these matters coming to court can be laid at your door.”
Secondly, he referred to the strike off and bankruptcy that followed. “Putting it shortly, you have already suffered professional and personal ruin and I do not consider it necessary to add to that by sending you straight to prison.
“Thirdly, although your conduct was thoroughly dishonest, I do not consider that you were primarily motivated by financial gain.
“I am fortified in that conclusion by the character references I have received, some of them from people of considerable distinction in their respective fields.
“What I think happened is that you allowed your enthusiasm for your clients’ cases to get the better of your professional and personal judgment.”
Finally, the judge said, Mr Shiner was now 67 years old “and not in the best of health”.
He will now face a confiscation hearing on a date to be fixed.
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