AN expert in the assessment of legal costs told Teesside Crown Court that a solicitor had overcharged the beneficiaries of ten estates by thousands of pounds.
Law costs draftsman Nicholas Shelley was giving evidence in the trial of Thirsk solicitor and a former North Yorkshire coroner Jeremy Cave.
Mr Cave, 53, of The Grange, Balk, near Thirsk, has denied ten counts of theft between April 1990 and July 2000.
Mr Shelley was appointed by the Law Society to investigate overcharging claims made against Mr Cave's one-man practice.
Using the Law Society rules which dictate the charges solicitors can make in probate matters, Mr Shelley said his investigations had revealed that Mr Cave had overcharged the beneficiaries of ten estates by sums ranging from £3,160 to more than £80,000.
Mr Shelley said that, even after allowing leeway on each of the accounts, in his opinion, all the beneficiaries had been overcharged.
The prosecution's case is that Mr Cave overcharged the estate beneficiaries to such an extent that he must have known his actions amounted to stealing.
The trial continues today.
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