A “bent solicitor” enjoyed a life of “obscene extravagance” after stealing more than a million pounds from a disabled client, a court heard today.
Thomas McGoldrick, 59, spent thousands on foreign holidays, joining an exclusive golf club and lavishing money on his children, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester was told.
The father-of-two, who lives in a £650,000 home in Mobberley, Cheshire, financed his lifestyle by stealing over £1 million from a disabled client as his firm struggled with massive debts, it is alleged.
The court was told how Mr McGoldrick’s firm secured £1.8 million in damages for Keith Anderson, 45, a van driver, who was left paralysed from the chest down after a road accident in Croydon in November 1996.
Mr McGoldrick then visited Mr Anderson at his house, where he claims, they drafted a letter in which his client agreed to give him half the damages.
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Mr Anderson has told the court the letter is a forgery and he was “shocked” to discover the cash had gone.
McGoldrick was drowning in debt, the court heard, owing £1.4 million, including cash owed on 13 credit cards and more than 30 loans.
His extravagant spending included £3,500 to join Mere Golf and Country Club in Cheshire, £1,600 on a children’s climbing frame and a £15,000 kitchen, the court heard.
David Friesner, prosecuting, told Mr McGoldrick: “I’m going to suggest to you, you were living an extravagant lifestyle, a grossly extravagant lifestyle.
“Obscenely extravagant . . . for someone with £1.4 million debts”.
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Mr McGoldrick, a solicitor since 1973, also allegedly falsified his firm’s accounts, “grossly inflating profits” to secure overdraft facilities and loans.
“I’m suggesting you are a bent solicitor, dishonest, bent, dishonourable solicitor and have been for years,” Mr Freisner said.
Mr McGoldrick faces 53 counts of false accounting, two counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, one count of forgery and one count of money laundering between December 1999 and September 2004.
He denies all the charges.
The trial continues.