Taylor Wimpey recommended conveyancing solicitors go bust after one is jailed for stealing £280,000

It is reported in the Liverpool Echo that solicitor Liam McEleavey, of Gabriel Solicitors, has been jailed for three years three months for stealing £280,000.

A solicitor in Gabriel Solicitors, a firm of Taylor Wimpey recommended solicitors – which, needless to say, failed to alert purchasers of predatory terms in the leases – has been jailed for stealing £280,000 of clients’ money.

Liam McEleavey, 39, a father of two, carried out a “complex and sophisticated fraud” over several years, ripping off “innocent families venturing on to the property ladder”, according to the Liverpool Echo.

One client was asked for £1,000 in cash on the day of a house transaction or the deal would fall through.

Others had stamp duty payments worth thousands go astray, and in total he took around £30,000 from his own clients.

Wirral legal executive Liam McEleavey jailed for £280,000 fraud

A LEGAL executive was jailed after carrying out a series of frauds worth £280,000 which forced a solicitors firm to close. Liam McEleavey, 39, carried out a “complex and sophisticated fraud” over a period of years in which he ripped off innocent families venturing on to the property ladder.

Gabriel Solicitors has gone bust because of the scandal.

Former Taylor Wimpey customers are indignant as Gabriel Solicitors in Formby was recommended when they purchased their leasehold properties.

They claim, needless to say, that Gabriel Solicitors did not alert them to onerous lease terms, such as doubling ground rent, which have rendered these properties unsellable at anything approaching like the price paid.

One house buyer told LKP: “Taylor Wimpey advised us to use these solicitors and they were used by many people on this estate. In fact, Liam did most of the work.

“We definitely wasn’t given a list of solicitors to use. We were told they knew how Taylor Wimpey worked, so they would be ideal.”

Taylor Wimpey was contacted for a comment.