Asolicitor whose ‘cherished sole practice’ was destroyed by fraudsters who duped her into letting them work for the firm has been suspended from practice for 18 months.

Stefanie Anne O’Bryen, admitted in 1982 and sole owner of Watlington Solicitors in Oxfordshire, caused or allowed ‘Asad Sahi’ - in fact, a disbarred barrister with a criminal conviction for conspiracy to commit fraud called Yawar Ali Shah, and ‘Edward Elkins’, who was believed to be struck off solicitor Peter Hastings - to conduct legal services for the firm without undertaking adequate due diligence. The fraudsters were named in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal judgment as 'the London group'.

Sahi and Elkins both produced false ID documents when asked, and were vouched for by a practising accountant and several other solicitors with current practising certificates.

O’Bryen told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that she believes Sahi ‘carefully manipulated and groomed her’ into believing that he was trustworthy and a competent lawyer. But she accepted she failed to carry out ‘rudimentary identity checks’, which led to her in 2022 and 2023 recruiting staff that a reputable law firm would seek to avoid. O’Bryen was not aware until August 2024 that 'Sahi' was in fact Yawar Ali Shah.