A disgraced solicitor who stole over half a million pounds from client's wills to use as compensation for cases he had botched was jailed for three-and-a-half years today.

Donald Halling, 54, used £630,000 bequeathed to charities and bereaved relatives to pay off clients whose cases he had mishandled.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how, as a result of his thefts, monies pledged to charities such as Cancer Research, The British Heart Foundation and the Internation League for the Protection of Horses, lost out.

Halling told police he "crossed the line" when he took his heavy workload from the Jarrow office of Patterson Glenton and Stracey to the South Shields branch.

He said "pride" prevented him from confessing to the partners he was unable to cope with the combined workload, so for five-and-a-half years covered his mistakes using money he was charged with administering on behalf of the deceased clients.

The father-of-two also used a trial of false documents and forged signatures to cover his tracks and was found with wills hidden in his office draw after his arrest.

Prosecutor Andrew Hatton told the court how the bulk of the money went to pay compensation to a couple after he botched the handling of a lease on their behalf.

Instead of telling the partners at the firm to inform the insurance company that the clients would be entitled to compensation, he paid them £25,000 out of his own pocket and stole £435,000 from wills to cover the rest.

Another client instructed him to seek compensation from a limited company and Halling said he had managed to claim £17,000.

Halling sent a cheque to the client for £17,000 but in reality had never pursued the limited company for anything and used money stolen from the will of a woman who had recently died. And another client, who had used the firm since 1978, instructed Halling to pursue a claim against Austin Rover.

Halling told the client he had managed to get him £15,000 which the client rejected so Halling said another offer had been made of £50,000.

The client accepted the £50,000 and instructed Halling to keep the money for him in a client account with the firm.

The client later asked for £15,000 from his account and Halling sent him a cheque for that amount.

But prosecutor Andrew Hatton told the court: "It would appear the defendant had done little if anything to pursue the claim.

"The cheque for £15,000 was drawn on the estate of a woman whose estate Halling was administering.

"The client never saw the balance he believed was held for him and the defendant admitted he never even opened a file on behalf of that client and never sought compensation on his behalf."

Halling, of Central Avenue, South Shields, admitted seven specimen charges of theft, 12 of forgery and one of perverting the course of justice.

The charges date from the end of 1996 until mid 2002 when he resigned.

Mr Hatton said: "The defendant misappropriated substantial amounts of money from a number of estates he had been responsible for administering.

"On his account the whole course of conduct arises from him reaching the stage he was making mistakes in his professional work, he was negligent in the conduct of several cases.

"He began to try and deal with the mistakes in a wholly inappropriate fashion.

"He began to lost control of his cases in circumstances where he did not want to admit he was losing control."

Halling told police he made the "crazy decision" to tamper with the wills to "eleviate pressure" and claimed some clients had died intestate to ward off any questions being asked from would-be beneficiaries.

Mr Hatton added; "In so doing he engaged in a sustained and protracted course of dishonest and criminal conduct and caused inconvenience, stress and financial loss to many people."

Mr Hatton said Halling was "at pains" to point out that none of his clients who received compensation were aware of how he got the money and thought they were receiving payouts for legitimate claims.

Prosecutors accept Halling did not benefit personally from his illegal activities, although part of the deception was to prevent him being sacked, and did not "line his own pockets with the stolen cash.

But Mr Hatton added: "He owned three properties, took regular holidays and he admitted in interview he had a pleasant if not extravagant lifestyle from his earnings from the firm."

Halling told police he felt "relieved" once his deceptions were brought out into the open.

Mr Hatton said; "He stated the analogy of an old music hall act where a man was spinning plates and ended up running around the stage trying to keep all the plates spinning to prevent them from crashing to the ground. "That appears and appropriate analogy."

Judge David Hodson said he took no "no pleasure whatsoever" in sending Halling to prison.

The judge said; "I'm prepared to accept these offences arose out of your own pride and your inability to recognise that you were not able to properly conduct your role as a solicitor and not because you wanted to feather your own nest.

"But you appreciate as well as anybody, the profession of a solicitor reposes in such a person the expectation by your clients and by the public that they can thoroughly rely on what it is you are doing on their behalf.

"What you have done over that period of five and a half years is clearly a gross breach of the trust reposed in you."

Judge Hodson said he appreciated Halling being struck off and ruining his chosen career is punishment itself for a man of his position. Defence barrister Paul Sloan QC said: "He tried to take the additional burdens in his stride but in reality he was unable to cope with those additional burdens.

"It was a case of pride, pride before a very long fall. He acknowledges he just did not have the guts to say he needed help."