Michael Atkin's brass nameplate is still nailed to the wall outside the York chambers in Low Ousegate where he used to practise.

But the man who once helped defend ex-Beatle George Harrison on a careless driving charge has fatally tarnished himself both professionally and personally.

Behind the respectable entrance, the trusted family lawyer siphoned off tens of thousands of pounds from the wills of his clients for his own use.

The Evening Press has seen confidential documents claiming he took at least £90,000 from those who entrusted him to ensure their money reached their heirs after their death.

They had felt safe in the hands of his firm, MM Rossfield and Co, which, under its founding partner, Morris Rossfield, had built up a thriving and respected practice.

But after Mr Rossfield died in 1991, the law firm fell on bad times.

Atkin, who had started practising in York in 1967, became its senior partner. He had decades of experience, dating back to March 1955.

Over three years in the mid-nineties he started siphoning money out of the accounts of rich clients into his own pockets.

At least four clients lost money to him.

Among them was a former NUT county president, Audrey Downs, who taught at Fairfax Primary School, Bilbrough, for 33 years and was its head when the school closed in 1986.

Past and present pupils, parents and staff gathered to wish her well in retirement at the school's final end-of-term party.A former magistrate, she thought she could trust Atkin, who used to live in Bilbrough.

So did her brother Gerald, of Acomb, who should have inherited large sums through the will Atkin wrote for her before she died in York District Hospital in August 1995, at the age of 68.

Atkin, who now lives in Uppleby, Easingwold, also stole a substantial amount from the estate of the late Major Frederick Birchall.

When his victims started complaining, he ignored their letters. When the Solicitors' Complaints Bureau started investigating, he ignored their letters too.

But he could not ignore the Law Society, no matter how hard he tried.

In March 1995, the solicitors' ruling body caught him practising without a licence and banned him from working until he paid for one.

He claimed he couldn't afford the fee as his "small, provincial practice" was suffering from a "prolonged recession".

He continued to ignore any attempt by the Law Society to contact him.

In November 1996 it finally lost patience with him. He was struck off the solicitors' roll for misconduct. He did not even bother to attend the disciplinary hearing, claiming he had to represent a client in a magistrates' court.

By January 1997, regulators had shut down MM Rossfield and Co and the firm was in the hands of the liquidators, its law practice transferred to Drivers Solicitors, of York.

Atkin was declared bankrupt in June 1997 at Wakefield County Court.

But the final disgrace was yet to come. The Law Society had passed details of his misconduct on to North Yorkshire fraud squad detectives who started their own investigation.

On November 4, 1997, Atkin appeared before Selby magistrates charged with forgery and stealing from his clients.

The man who used to sit in the lawyers' reserved seats now found himself sitting in the dock.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.