A CROOKED solicitor whose law firm collapsed with debts of more than £1m has been struck off for raiding the estates of dead clients.

Peter Shipston, 64, dishonestly billed £5,000 for settling the affairs of one client but took £11,000 in 26 transfers.

The lawyer told investigators the money had been moved in error and would be returned, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard.

But George Marriot, for the Law Society, said: "There has been no evidence that any of this money was paid."

In another case, £14,000 of a client's money was taken on a bill for £7,600.

Shipston insists that the money has been paid back.

But the tribunal heard that compensation claims of £1.2m have been lodged with the Solicitors Indemnity Fund - which has paid out £1.1m so far.

Shipston was a partner in the firm Pawson and Murray, of Royal Road, Stanley, County Durham, with William Davison, 53, but only Shipston was accused of dishonesty.

When inspectors went to the firm in July 2003 they found the accounts in chaos.

Proper records had not been kept for more than a year and those that existed were "inaccurate or incomplete".

The men admitted a series of allegations, including wrongly withdrawing clients' money and using clients' money for their own purposes.

Shipston, of Hollywood Crescent, Darras Hall, Ponteland, near Newcastle, told the tribunal: "There was no conscious transfer of funds by me on the basis of overcharging."

Davison, of Bournemouth Drive, Seaham, County Durham, accepted joint liability for the book-keeping blunders.

Davison, a leading criminal lawyer, had been "financially ruined" by the firm's collapse, said his defence barrister, Patrick Cosgrove QC.

The tribunal found Shipston guilty of dishonesty and struck him off the roll of solicitors. He was ordered to pay costs of £18,679.85.

Davison was suspended from practice for six months and must pay costs of £9,339.93.