A crooked lawyer who brought a family firm of solicitors to the brink of bankruptcy by stealing almost £250,000 has been jailed for five years.

Derek Speed stood shame-faced in the dock as a judge told him his dishonesty had been "catastrophic" for EMD Law in Staplehurst.

"Offences such as this strike at the heart of our legal system," he said. "They weaken the confidence in the legal system. This falls into the most serious category."

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 58-year-old solicitor, of Maynard Road, Wincheap, Canterbury, systematically stole the cash to fund an extravagant lifestyle in which he lavished luxuries on a woman.

He admitted 11 charges of fraud, three of possessing articles for use in fraud and one of possessing identification documents, a false UK driving licence, with intent.