solicitor David Gatherer was jailed in disgrace yesterday after being found guilty of ripping off an elderly widow in a house sale scam.

Victim Joan Fort instructed the lawyer to sell a converted former shop she owned in Esh Winning, Durham, in the summer of 2002.

She was still grieving following the death of her husband and did not want to keep the empty property.

Gatherer - sole practitioner at Durham City firm Carpenters - put the house on the market for offers in the region of £15,000 but, instead of getting Mrs Fort the best deal, he plotted with his office manager, Joyce Watt, to fleece the trusting widow and her family.

They were told that a legitimate offer was worthless, even though the potential buyer was ready to pay £16,500.

Instead, the property was sold for £12,000 - with Watt the secret buyer.

She and Gatherer planned to sell on the house and make a profit.

However, they were caught when the original bidders became suspicious and raised the alarm.

Police arrested the pair were arrested and, although they denied any wrongdoing, a Newcastle Crown Court jury found them guilty of conspiracy to defraud at the end of a month-long trial.

Jailing Gatherer, 51, from East Herrington, Sunderland, for 18 months, Judge Tony Lancaster said the scam had been a "mean, cold and calculated breach of trust motivated only by greed".

Watt, 48, from Langley Park, Durham, was jailed for a year.

Gatherer was cleared of an unrelated charge of obtaining a £2,471 money transfer by deception after prosecutors offered no evidence. He now faces a renewed investigation by the Law Society.

Eric Elliott, defending, said: "He has paid the ultimate price in terms of personal and professional disgrace, humiliation and total loss of respect."