A FORMER County Durham coroner and solicitor, who misused £175,000 of client's money to keep his firm's finances afloat, was struck off yesterday.

David Henderson, 56, juggled the money between customer accounts and even took some to pay off his VAT bill, the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal heard.

His scheme was uncovered when officials from the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (0SS) paid a visit to his firm in Whitby and found a £200,000 'black hole' in his accounts.

Henderson, a former deputy coroner for south Durham, confessed to using the cash improperly and admitted he made false entries on client ledgers to disguise the misuse of funds.

The lawyer, who qualified in 1971, was not present at the hearing yesterday.

Katrina Wingfield, for the OSS, said officials discovered £203,021.57 was missing from the firm's accounts during an inspection in March this year.

The Law Society then intervened on the grounds of suspected dishonesty. A total of £175,831 had been misused by the lawyer.

Henderson had run his own firm Seaton Gray, Bell and Bagshawe, at Flowergate, Whitby.

He admitted five allegations including the misuse of client funds, making improper withdrawals from client to office account, bringing the solicitors' profession into disrepute, and conduct unbefitting a solicitor.

Chairman Anthony Isaacs said: "The order the tribunal makes is that the respondent be struck off, this being a case of dishonesty."

Henderson was also ordered to pay costs of £5,167.87.