SDT: Strike-off was only appropriate sanction
A former partner at top firm DWF who was convicted after being caught in a ‘sting’ operation by a paedophile hunter group has now been struck off.
David Storry Walton, 68, was sentenced in autumn 2023 for the offence of an “adult attempt to engage in sexual communication with a child” over a two-week period in October 2019.
The offence related to a decoy as opposed to a genuine child, so there was no victim.
Mr Walton had pleaded guilty at his first appearance before the court and was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to a community order with a condition of 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
His Honour Judge Conrad said there was no punitive element to the sentence, adding that the unexplained delay of nearly four years between arrest and charge set it apart “from other such cases in quite a dramatic way”.
He continued: “What you did was very wrong, of course. I get the impression from reading the messages and reading what is said about the messages that in fact the perverted thrill for you was in the conversation itself rather than any concluded intention of meeting the other person.
“It is of note that it stopped on 24 October and it was only a couple of weeks later when they came round to your house after everything else had gone silent.”
The judge said he had “rarely… seen such an impressive body of testimonials” to a defendant’s good character. Mr Walton had been greatly shamed by the events and shown “some courage” in being open about them with those who knew him.
He had shown insight and remorse, with the judge saying he was “as confident as I can be that no criminal court will ever see you again”.
Mr Walton qualified in 1981. He left DWF in December 2019 and said that he subsequently attended “a number of recognised courses to deal with the issues he faced”.
He was struck off following an agreed outcome with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, approved by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
The tribunal said it was “the only appropriate and proportionate sanction”.
Mr Walton was also ordered to pay costs of £3,000.
