AN office manager for a firm of solicitors has appeared in court accused of systematically stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds from the business.

David George Clattenburg is facing charges of theft of money belonging to Newcastle-based Singleton Winn Saunders, with whom he no longer works, and fraud by abuse of position.

The theft charge relates to a period between July 2005 and January 2007, while the fraud is said to have taken place on dates between January 2007 and January 2015, all during the period he ran the firm’s office in Shields Road, Byker.

Although the Crown alleges the total figure involved is up to £454,896, the amount may yet be amended following further discussion between the prosecution and defence sides in the case.

No pleas were taken during a case management hearing at Durham Crown Court.

But, due to the firm’s connections in North-East legal circles, it was agreed by Deborah Smithies, for the Crown, defence counsel, Taryn Turner, and Judge Christopher Prince that, “in the interests of justice”, any subsequent trial, or the sentencing hearing, should he plead or be found ‘guilty’, ought to take place at a court centre well out of the region.

All parties agreed to an adjournment in the case for a further plea and case management hearing at the court, in two months.

The forty-four-year-old defendant, of Tavern Close, Cramlington, Northumberland, was bailed to return for that appearance on Friday September 8.