Petition update
SRA outcome is in and it's astounding...letter below. So the Legal Ombudsman next?
Jul 1, 2017 — 29 June 2017
Dear Ms Rowe
Your report about Kuljit Thiaray
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street Birmingham B1 1RN
DX: 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47 UK 0370 606 2555
Int + 44 (0)121 329 6800
F + 44 (0)121 616 1999 www.sra.org.uk
Thank you for your emails and providing further information in relation to your concerns about Kuljit Thiaray. We confirm the matter has now reached a conclusion.
We have carefully considered the information you have provided and made our own regulatory enquiries but we have decided not to take any regulatory action against Mr Thiaray.
We do understand that you will be disappointed by our decision so we hope this letter is helpful in explaining why we have made this decision.
We agree that Mr Thiaray misled you about his name.
We have reviewed the information you have provided and also spoken to Mr Thiaray to get his account of events. We are satisfied from the evidence we have received that Mr Thiaray set up a profile on 'Tinder' dating application under the name "Antony Ray". The account used a profile picture of an individual who was not Mr Thiaray. You have said that you started a relationship with Mr Thiaray and throughout the course of the relationship you were led to believe that his name was Antony Ray. You have explained that it was only when you made your own enquiries that you discovered Mr Thiaray's real name and that he is a solicitor.
Mr Thiaray accepts he did use the name Antony Ray and used the profile picture of a 'Bollywood Actor' although, of course, you met him in real life later. He has said that he used these details on the dating website to protect himself and his family from having their details in the public domain.
You concerns relate to your and Mr Thiaray's personal and private lives and are not matters that we need to take steps to protect consumers of legal services from.
While we do understand your concerns, and we appreciate why you feel strongly about Mr Thiaray's behaviour, his actions relate to his private life and were outside of his practise as a solicitor.
Our role is to protect legal consumers. He has not used his position as a solicitor to gain any advantage or act in a way which would damage the trust the public places in the provision of legal services.
Further, we do not consider his actions have impaired his ability to carry out his professional role and there is no evidence of any risk to legal consumers as a result of such actions.
You have also mentioned that Mr Thiaray "was known to the police". If any charges were brought against Mr Thiaray or if he had been convicted of a criminal offence then this would be something we could consider further, but the police, as you know, have confirmed that no criminal offence has been committed.
Although we are not taking further action at this time, please note that we have kept a record of your concerns and it can be used, with reports from other sources, to identify trends and patterns of behaviour. This can sometimes result in follow-up action in the future, so please be assured it has been kept on record.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your information. Yours sincerely,
Regulatory Supervisor
** Please quote our above reference whenever contacting us **
If corresponding by e-mail please quote our reference in the subject heading
If, at any time during the investigation, you have concerns about our service, please let me know. We have an internal complaints procedure to deal with these issues, and we will do everything we can to resolve your complaints and respond positively to your comments.
Please let us know if you require this information in an alternative format or would like us to consider any other reasonable adjustments you may need Our Reasonable Adjustments policy can be found at: www.sra.org.uk/sra/reasonable-adjustment-policy.page.
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