vertiser an imes nfeWsVantlfview^frprhlth^Ce^^ Solicitor is cleared


Anguish over as no evidence is offered By Victoria Duffy


LEADING solicitor Mr Basil Bearing has described the past 25 months of living under sus­ picion of money laundering as “the most horrendous ordeal”. The solicitor of 40 years was


cleared of all charges on Monday when the Crown Prosecution Ser­ vice offered no evidence against him, fellow solicitor Mr John Greenwood and five co-defen­ dants. The nightmare started in June


2003 when Mr Bearing, pictured, was arrested as p a r t of the National Crime Squad’s money laundering probe Operation Nor­ folk and was charged nine months later. Mr Bearing, of Lower Chapel


Lane in Grindleton, said: “I am delighted that common sense has prevailed and th a t , a fte r 25 months of anguish, I and my fam­ ily can put behind us the most horrendous ordeal. “Right now I am a very happy


man and I am going to take stock and reflect on everything that has


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happened.” He added th a t despite being


delighted that the charges have been dropped, he is not ruling out civil action against the police.' Mr Bearing, who is a partner at


SFN Solicitors in Burnley, strenu­ ously denied the charges of con­


spiring to transfer proceeds of drug trafficking, conspiring to pervert the course of justice, fail­ ing to disclose knowledge or suspi­ cion of money laundering and two charges of conspiracy to assist another person to retain the bene­ fit of drug trafficking. ■When his Grindleton home and


Burnley office were raided, he said that the damage to his reputation, which has taken his entire career to build up, was “incalculable” as people automatically assumed th a t he had been “dishonestly handling large quantities of cash”. But, he says, the reality is total­


ly different. He voluntarily gave officers access to files and all of his personal finances. He added: “The fact that police


found it necessary, not only to raid my office, but also to raid my home, involving 14 officers, where they found absolutely nothing of any interest to them is something which my wife and I will never accept as being reasonable.” Mr Bearing (61), a former pub­


lic relations officer for the Burnley and Pendle Law Society, added that the onus was on him to prove his innocence and that the uncer­ tainty of not being able to guaran­ tee being acquitted after the pro­ posed six-month trial made him decide to retire in November. He is now going to stay on in his profes­ sion because he feels that he still has plenty to give.


“Throughout my ordeal, which


has probably been worse for my family than for me, I have been sustained by the trust and love of my wife and children and other members of my family. “■We, in turn, have been over­


whelmed by the support, both at the beginning of our ordeal and at various stages throughout, of the staff at SFN, my professional col­ leagues, my loyal and trusting clients, our exceptional friends and, best of all, people who I don’t really know, but have heard of me and have conveyed their best wish­ es. I must also mention Paul Schofield and his colleagues at Farleys who have worked tirelessly and successfully on my behalf. “To all, I send my heartfelt and


most grateful thanks. I will never forget your gestures of kindness,” he said. Mr Bearing believes th a t les­


sons should be learned from this case, which, he says, wll have cost tens of millions of pounds. “A great deal of public money


has been wasted. A little bit of common sense and a better system could have seen that money put to much better use,” he added. Mr Greenwood, a partner at


GHT in Nicholas Street, Burnley, faced one charge of conspiracy to assist another person to retain the benefit of drug trafficking. On behalf of Mr Greenwood (47), of Manchester Road,


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Barnoldswick, Mr Anthony Barn- father, a partner in Panhone and Partners’ business criine depart­ ment, said: “The case against Mr Greenwood centred^around his involvement with conveyancing transactions a number of years ago. I t was alleged that, when con­ ducting the transactions, he should have suspected that some­ thing was untoward. He always denied the allegation but a t the same time, co-operated with the police inquiry and gave full expla­ nations for his conduct." The other men cleared were:


John Broughton (53) a solicitor from Foulridge, who runs a prac- . tice in Keighley; Anthony Radford (45), of Heather 'Vie\v, Skipton; Thomas England (56), of Seabrook Brive, Cleveland; legal representative Noel Tully (36), from Liverpool and Melvin Rad­ ford (44), of no fbted address. They had all denied the charges. Buring the hearing at Preston


Crown Court, Judge Anthony Russell QC granted requests for the men to be awarded costs.


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