Former solicitor Hugh Lansdell, 74, has been jailed for four years for committing fraud by stealing almost £2million from clients' trusts and accounts.

He began his fraudulent activities after falling prey to a lottery scam.

Mr Lansdell, of Norfolk, was a senior partner at the firm he worked for, and his professional responsibilities included looking after client money and estates.

In April 2015 he was led to believe he had won a postcode lottery in Spain and that in order to release the funds promised to him, he would need to make ever increasing demands for payments to scammers who had contacted him.

Believing the scam, he made several payments to the ‘lottery scheme’ but after exhausting his and his wife’s money, he began taking money from the accounts of clients at his firm.

Between 21 August 2015 and 26 July 2017, he was responsible for making 72 transactions from client accounts, worth a total value of £1,963,659.44.

It affected 29 client accounts, six payments were also made from investment portfolios held by trusts in his control, and further payments made from personal bank accounts of clients where he had Lasting Power of Attorney.

When concerns were raised by his firm, Mr Lansdell lied and made numerous excuses about investing the clients’ money elsewhere, before finally admitting he was using the money for a lottery scheme.

Following an investigation by Norfolk Police, the CPS authorised the charge against Mr Lansdell which he pleaded guilty to.

On Friday he was sentenced to four years imprisonment at Norwich Crown Court for committing fraud by abuse of position over almost a two-year period.

Emma Beazley, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: “After falling victim to a scam himself, Hugh Lansdell exploited his significant position of trust as a senior partner to take an extraordinary amount of money from clients.

“The CPS is committed to working with police to bring fraudulent offenders to justice and will be pursuing confiscation proceedings in this case.”