Runaway solicitor leads a lonely life after being turfed out of Golf Club-

BUT LITTLE OLD LADIES WILL HAVE TO WAIT THEIR DAY-

Rawlings – left

Runaway British solicitor David Rawlings who we reported to Sussex Police way back in 2010 has been leading a solitary life after being turfed out of the Butterfly Rock Golf Club in Hua Hin where he was the Captain.


Rawlings, who had a legal practice in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, fled on bail after allegedly siphoning off some £250,000 of his clients money – including of course that of ‘little old ladies’ – Bexhill is known for its plentiful retirement homes.

In fact it was a pensioner 66-year-old Felicity Wells who put up £10,000 bail money and thus forfeited the cash.

Rawlings had appeared in court on a sample charge of procuring some £75,000 from another pensioner Katherine Wallace.

Rawlings however preferred retirement in the sun rather than being wheeled along the prom in Bexhill. He had cut a dash in Hua Hin where his additional funds nicely complemented his pension. Now 67, he was expelled from the club after a member circulated details of his arrest and flight which had been published in the Brighton Argus newspaper.

Sussex Police have made no attempt to extradite him back to the United Kingdom though he may have to return anyway, it has been reported.This despite a statement from Gerald Lynch of the Law Society that he would be brought back to the U.K. regardless.

The costs and effort of extradition I guess are prohibitive and Thailand must have some much bigger British fish.

A former golfing colleague said: “Actually I feel quite sorry for him. He was very active in the Butterfly Rock Golf Club and his life circulated around it.”

AND THE MORALE OF THIS STORY IS –


Protected nowadays by the internet and rarely having to face probing questions, or answer to criticism, police in the U.K. can put out any sort of crap without any recourse at all.


For years Sussex Police were appealing for information about Rawlings’ whereabouts. When they were actually told – er, they didn’t want him. I have this come across this situation time and time again. Daren Oxley for instance, who fled a drugs trial in Sheffield and arrived in Thailand to start a development company and build himself a mansion is one such example. His wife has been charged with conspiracy to murder former U.S. Marine Back to Donald Whiting in Hua Hin.  Mr. Whiting did not like Mr. Oxley’s charges and was taking him to court.  Back ‘Life on Mars’ please.

7 thoughts on “Runaway solicitor leads a lonely life after being turfed out of Golf Club-

  1. Someone should have a talk to him with a ball pin hammer. There might have to be a new question put on the immigration card.

    Are you a fake lawyer on the run?

  2. I presume the Law Society re-imbursed all clients who had money with Rawlings out of their central funds which probably reduced the pressure on the Police. But if the pensioner who forfeited the bail money was not re-imbursed then given that the Police appealed for his whereabouts and given that the Police were subsequently told of his whereabouts and then did nothing the pensioner should bring a complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission seeking damages— as the Police inaction has denied her the opportunity to recover her money through the courts

  3. The law socirty rarely find in a client's favour and even more rarely make effective reimbursement. Take a look at their web site. The IPCC similarly is weak on action and compensation. Criminal prosecutions should be robust and not subject to discussions or deals with outside bodies. .The police should enforce the law not try to decide it. That is the job of the courts. Or should be

  4. Andrew, the next time your having G and T sundowners with the Ambassador and are discussing Arsenal’s playing tactics could you slip in this question. Both Rawlings and Oxley are known to be in Thailand. As fugitives why does the Embassy/London not revoke their British passports and notify Thai immigration. This will be picked up at Immigration when they try to renew their Thai visas or attempt to leave the country and may cause them problems. Further, I hope that Mr Rawlings has not been staying in Thailand on a retirement visa with annual proof of income supplied by an Embassy letter or has had his passport renewed like Oxley.

  5. Has Rawlings done an Oxley??. It would seem to be 10 years plus since Rawlings persuaded a magistrate to return his confiscated passport and this passport must have expired by now.

  6. The following pre dates Oxley but has extraordinary similarities (from the Guardian 14th April 2008) at http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/apr/14/internationalcrime.cyprus
    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office admitted yesterday that it had given a 10-year passport to Gary Robb, a former nightclub owner from Stockton-on-Tees, even though he had fled the UK in 1997 to avoid a drugs trial and was the subject of an arrest warrant.
    Robb settled in Northern Cyprus after 200 police in riot gear raided his Colosseum nightclub in Stockton. Northern Cyprus does not have an extradition treaty with the UK and Robb successfully applied for a new passport in 2001, allowing him to remain in the country.
    "I can confirm that a passport was issued to Robb in 2001 and yes he was the subject of an arrest warrant," a spokesman for the FCO said. "It was an error and procedures have been put in place to make sure this does not happen again."
    "I must say I was a bit nervous when I went to apply for it," Robb said. "But my old passport was about to expire and it was the only way of renewing my residence permit here. I've travelled everywhere on that passport: Thailand, Singapore, Florence, France, Cambodia, Istanbul. In fact, anywhere you can think of, except the UK. If I was such a bad man, why would they issue me with one?"
    Chief Superintendent Mark Braithwaite, head of crime operations for Cleveland police, which conducted the raid on Robb's nightclub, said it was "a good question" why Robb had been allowed the passport.
    "Normally in a case like this, where there's a European arrest warrant, there are alerts," he said. "As far as we are concerned Gary Robb is unfinished business. There is an arrest warrant out for him and it remains very active."

    I note the first place Mr Robb traveled to on his new passport was Thailand!!

  7. In my previous post I note the FCO were quoted as saying "I can confirm that a passport was issued to Robb in 2001 and yes he was the subject of an arrest warrant," a spokesman for the FCO said. "It was an error and procedures have been put in place to make sure this does not happen again”
    Yet the Embassy in Bangkok subsequently issued a new passport to Oxley and again in June 2006 to Sean McMahon “who had skipped bail in 1999 after being charged by Devon and Cornwall Police with raping the eight-year-old girl over an 18-month period.” McMahon was fortunately subsequently extradited back to the UK but why not Oxley and Rawlings?

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