He’s probably not the first former law student to fantasise about being a barrister but Ian Clegg might be the first to have bought a wig and robes off e-bay before having a crack in court without any real qualifications to speak of. Clegg, 32, had obviously watched a few to many Rumpole of the Bailey episodes and though he could get away with faking it but ended up receiving a jail sentence for two years in Durham Crown Court yesterday.

For his skills and “enough qualifications to run rings around” his opponents i.e. one year of a law degree at Teesside University, he charged the princely sum of £75 per hour. Self-imporatnce not money was not deemed to be his motivation though. Despite his lack of real qualifications, three people commissioned him to work on civil cases and he also took on two motoring offences. He appeared several times at a magistrates’ court and a county court without being rumbled.

The game was up though when he represented clients in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, the prosecutor and court officials became suspicious because he did not seem to know court procedure. (Good spot – we think we could find a number of friendly barristers who would admit to cocking this up a fair bit in their early days). When they questioned him, he said that he had completed his barrister training and was setting up a new chambers in Middlesbrough called Yellow Apple. Mmm tasty…

Clegg however, had previous convictions for fraud, including a suspended 12-month prison sentence for running up hotel bills of £7,000 and charging them to a national pub chain???

A psychiatric report had concluded that he needed “long-term psychological work”. Really.

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