A YORK solicitor faces “a substantial prison sentence”, after a jury convicted him of stealing more than £1.4 million from clients and his firm.

Simon Morgan, 50, formerly of Upper Poppleton and more recently of Bilbrough, showed no reaction to the six guilty verdicts at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

The charges related to his time as senior partner at Leeds-based firm Milners, between 2002 and 2004. The firm branded the offences “outrageous and despicable”.

The solicitor and his wife Ann Young-Morgan, 55, who was employed as account manager, abused their positions to siphon funds from office and client accounts to fund their lavish lifestyle, the jury heard during the six-week trial.

At the time, the Morgans lived in The Manor, a five-bedroom house in north Leeds with its own swimming pool and jacuzzi, in an area where similar properties are currently on the market for £1.5 million.

The court also heard Simon Morgan had told his partners in the firm that his wife had cancer which needed private treatment, which the prosecution claimed was a smokescreen for their frequent trips to London and New York.

In May 2002, £20,000 was transferred from a Milners client account into the Morgans’ joint account, which funded a deposit for installation of a security system at their home.

Transfers from office and client accounts also corresponded to credit card payments, private jet travel, and a £46,950 deposit on a Ferrari sports car, in the Morgans’ names.

The court also heard more than £13,000 was taken from the account of a woman who was badly injured in a car accident, and whose funds the solicitors firm were legally appointed to manage.

After another partner in the firm, Giles Ward, questioned Morgan about these funds, they were swiftly returned to the account.

Simon Morgan was forced to retire from Milners following the initial investigation, and the pair sold their assets, worth about £600,000, to cover the losses of the firm.

Morgan denied all six charges against him, and Ann Young-Morgan was found unfit to stand trial for psychiatric reasons.

The jury of eight women and three men took almost three days to come to unanimous guilty verdicts for Simon Morgan on all six counts of theft.

They also unanimously found Ann Young-Morgan “did the act charged against her”, and the judge requested more information about her mental state to help determine the best sentence for her.

Judge James Goss QC said: “As long as she remains unfit to be tried by a jury, I can either make a hospital order, or make her the subject of a supervision order, or discharge her absolutely.”

But he said: “I am very disinclined to discharge her absolutely.

“This is a woman who is effectively unwilling or unable to communicate with people, who is living the life of a recluse, who has been assisted by her husband to date, and will not be assisted by him for a considerable time hereafter.”

Speaking to the jury, the judge said he would not sentence Morgan immediately as “an act of mercy”, and “to allow him to get his affairs in order before he begins, what you will appreciate, will be rather a substantial prison sentence.”


Delight over verdict

A statement from Giles Ward and Simon Bass, Morgan’s ex-partners at Milners, said: “We are delighted in today’s verdict.

“The Morgans’ outrageous and despicable theft has touched the lives of so many including our families, staff and friends and personally for us it has been a living nightmare.

“Fortunately, Milners was strong enough to move on from the Morgans’ antics and the conviction of the Morgans represents the end of a long running saga for us personally.”

Simon Morgan was released on bail and will be sentenced on January 27 at Bradford Crown Court.

The judge told Morgan: “The fact I’m granting you bail is no indication that anything other than a prison sentence will follow”.