A crooked solicitor who stole almost £500,000 in mortgage fraud and used the money to go on a “hedonistic adventure” has walked free from court after he was given a suspended four-year jail term.

Belfast Crown Court heard that over a two-year period 53-year-old Philip Krown, also known as William Philip Crossey, opened a Swiss bank account and then used the money to rent a swish apartment in fashionable Rutland Gate in London, travelled extensively to his wife's home country of Colombia and to Europe, had an expense account at the Ritz Hotel and splashed out on expensive jewellery.

All the money, the court heard, had come from Krown remortgaging his Groomsport Home for £445,000 and simply taking the cash, rather than using it to pay off the existing loan.

Arrested at Gatwick Airport in March last year as he and his wife were about to board a flight to Barcelona, Krown later pleaded guilty to one count of theft in that he stole credit in the Philip Crossey Solicitors Client's account in the sum of £445,520, and also to removing £390,498.52 of criminal property from Northern Ireland.

Before he changed his name to Krown, he had been known as Crossey and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, had built up a successful firm on the Cregagh Road in east Belfast, and had served on the Council of the Law Society of Northern Ireland.

Outlining how he was diagnosed with diabetes and was forced to have his left leg amputated because of it, Judge Geoffrey Miller QC revealed that his right leg is also in danger and that his life expectancy could well be reduced.

He said Krown's “descent into the mire of his present circumstances has something of the Greek Tragedy about it”. The judge added, however, that he “cannot lose sight” of the fact that he had committed a deliberate fraud knowing full well that he could not repay the money, had planned a “sophisticated scheme” to get the money out of the country “by subterfuge... and thirdly that you then engaged on what may be regarded as a hedonistic adventure of high living for nearly two years” before he was eventually arrested.

Yesterday Judge Miller said Krown and his Colombian wife, Dr Claudia Ortiz, were stopped last year by police at Gatwick as they were planning to board a flight to Barcelona.

He said that during the investigations it emerged that Krown and his wife had been living in Rutland Gate since October 2006 and had travelled extensively together.

He said that during 18 interviews with the PSNI Krown “was unable to give a clear account of how precisely the monies were used, but it is quite apparent that he and his second wife lived ‘well' in a fashionable part of London and accounts for stays at the Ritz Hotel, together with regular travel to Europe and South America and purchase of expensive jewellery, all point to the dissipation of the monies”.

Since the revelation of the fraud, said the judge, the authorities have only been able to recover $50,000, which was left in the Swiss bank account.

In mitigation Judge Miller said the offences were set against a backdrop of Krown's mental and physical deterioration since he was diagnosed with diabetes in 1999, culminating in the amputation of his left leg in June 2005, leading to depression, paranoia and a personality change.

He added that throughout defence submissions “no clear picture emerged” as to what purpose Krown had for the money “other than to use it for his own benefit without any intention to either redeem the original HSBC mortgage or to repay the loan to Future Mortgages”.

Judge Miller told Krown he believed the background to the case amounted to “special mitigating circumstances” and therefore “persuade me” to suspend the jail term for three years.

Outrage at ‘incredible’ court ruling

The failure to jail prominent solicitor Philip Krown for his elaborate swindle sends out the wrong message over white collar crime, local representatives have claimed.

DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt, whose East Belfast constituency includes the Cregagh Road where Krown was based, expressed outrage at the sentence imposed by the courts.

The former Police Federation chairman said judges were sending out the wrong messages and were doing little to deter criminals.

“It is appalling that somebody like that walks away from court. Given the enormity of the figure of money stolen, it is absolutely incredible that such a person is effectively allowed to get away with it.

“Jail is the right place for someone like that. I believe this case is one that the Attorney General needs to look at.

“If it had been anyone else they could have almost banked on not being treated in such a lenient manner. Jail is the right place for someone like that.

“It doesn’t bode well for people to have confidence in the legal system. Everybody should be dealt with the same. Severe sentences are what we need in cases like this,” he said.

Meanwhile, North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds, a qualified barrister, added: “There are a lot of people out there who will feel that, given the level of theft and stolen money involved, that he has got away very lightly. They will compare the sentence passed on him as a solicitor to sentences passed on others who have served custodial sentences for lesser sums. There was deliberate planning and full knowledge. He knew precisely what he was doing.”

SDLP MLA and Belfast city councillor Alban Maginness, who is also a qualified barrister, said he believed the court had taken the case seriously.

“The imposition of any prison sentence, whether it is suspended or not, is the hallmark of the seriousness that the court takes of the case.

“The fact that it was suspended simply reflects the mitigating circumstances such as family circumstances, plea and whether there was any compensation.

“Just because the sentence was suspended doesn’t mean that the court didn’t take it seriously.

“Of course, if there is any re-offending, that jail sentence would be put into effect.”

The PSNI has declined to comment on the judgment passed by the court.

Philip Krown, also known as William Philip Crossey, has not practised law since 2006 and his crime could mean the end of his career.

A spokesman for the Law Society said: “The Law Society has referred William Philip Crossey to the Independent Disciplinary Tribunal which is empowered under statute to take disciplinary action, including striking off the roll of solicitors if necessary.”

How crooked lawyer got his hands on the money

An earlier court hearing was told that in July 2005 Krown successfully applied to Future Mortgages for a £445,000 mortgage on his home on Coastguard Lane, Orlock, Groomsport, the property still being subject to a £395,000 mortgage from HSBC Bank Plc.

The mortgage fund was drawn into the client account of Philip Crossey Solicitor with the usual undertakings that it would be used to pay off the existing debt.

Prosecuting lawyer David McAughey told the court that on January 11, 2006 Krown took a cheque for £390,000, purportedly to pay the loan off, but that cheque has never been presented.

However, on the same day a draft for £375,000 was paid out of the client account to a Scottish solicitor and estate agent firm A S Ireland, who were acting for Krown in the purchase of a portfolio of properties.

The sale of his firm of solicitors took place two days later with the company now being known as Keown Crossey Solicitors, but the old client account remained active to deal with cases still ongoing.

Mr McAughey said in February 2006 Krown wrote to A S Ireland telling them he no longer wished to continue with the purchase and asked that the money be returned by means of a cheque to Kraner Developments.

The firm, said the lawyer, agreed to send the money back but only to its original source, the Philip Crossey Client account.

During the course of February Krown himself lodged £125,000 into the client account but asked the book-keeper of Keown Crossey to write out two cheques payable to Kraner Developments amounting to a total of £500,000.

Mr McAughey said when these two cheques were returned cashed, it transpired that Krown had written on the back of each that they were to be paid to a David Vogt, a lawyer in Liechtenstein. The fraud was not discovered until March 2006 by which time Krown and his wife had disappeared, not to be seen again for two years.