Fake barrister wins Asbo appeal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/tees/8188105.stm

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A Middlesbrough man who impersonated a barrister in a string of court cases has won an appeal to overturn his anti-social behaviour order (Asbo).

Ian Clegg, 32, was jailed for a year after admitting conning county court judges and magistrates over six months.

He was also given a five-year Asbo banning him from claiming that he was legally-qualified professional.

A judge at London's Appeal Court quashed the Asbo on Wednesday after ruling it was imposed unnecessarily.

At a hearing last year, Clegg, of Cambridge Square, pleaded guilty to two charges of impersonating a barrister and three charges of fraud, between September 2007 and April 2008.

The court heard that he defended two people accused of motoring offences before Langbaurgh East Magistrates' Court in Guisborough and several debt cases in the local county court.

He was rumbled when a prosecutor and court clerk became suspicious because he became confused over procedure.

Appeal court judges removed the Asbo after deciding it had not been appropriate.