Solicitor, 67, jailed for seven years after stealing more than £4 million from clients and Church of England

Linda Box was jailed at a hearing today. Credit: West Yorkshire Police

A solicitor who stole more than £4 million from client accounts and the Church of England has been jailed for seven years.

Linda Box, 67, of Halifax Road, Dewsbury, dipped into dozens of accounts while working as a senior partner at the 200-year-old Dixon, Coles and Gill solicitors in Wakefield.

She pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud, two of forgery and one of theft at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court today.

The court heard that her deception covered a 12-year period, with almost £4m being plundered from client accounts.

Dixon, Coles and Gill collapsed after two centuries in January last year following the fraud probe Credit: Google

She also took more than £63,000 from the Church of England while acting as a registrar for the Diocese of Wakefield.

Box reportedly spent some of the money on clothes, holidays, vintage wines, mortgages, private school fees and garden improvements.

Dixon, Coles and Gill closed its doors after her wrongdoing came to light last year and the Solicitors Regulation Authorities then stepped in to prevent it from operating.

The Bishop of Leeds, the Right Reverend Nick Baines, added: "This has been a painful ordeal for all concerned and for whom we, in the Church of England Diocese of Leeds, continue to offer prayers and support."