CLIENTS of a disgraced North Yorkshire solicitor have been assured that all applications for compensation will be treated independently.

Former North Yorkshire coroner and solicitor Jeremy Cave, 53, was jailed for three-and-a-half years on Friday for swindling £155,000 from the estates of six dead clients.

A further three cases were left on file after the jury failed to reach a verdict, and Cave was found not guilty of stealing from one estate.

Clients who feel they have lost out to Cave can apply to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, the independent arm of The Law Society, for compensation.

A spokesman for The Law Society said yesterday that applications would be considered independently of the criminal trial.

"What we are looking at is the respect in which he's broken solicitors' guidelines on professional conduct, which is not necessarily what the police charged him with. It is a discretionary fund," said the spokesman.

"In many cases the clients will get the full amount of money back."

Cave, of Front Street, Sowerby, will face disciplinary proceedings at a Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal in London, on March 27.

The Law Society spokes-man said: "Any result other than striking off will be unacceptable to us."