Lawyer, 50, who paid off her tax bill with client's £132,000 divorce settlement avoids jail

A lawyer who paid off her tax bill with money from ones of her clients' £132,000 divorce settlement has been spared spending time behind bars.

Victim Elena Tomsa said her life 'fell apart' after she was ripped off by Analiza Kjaer, 50, the Old Bailey in London heard.

The cash was paid to the lawyer in three lump sums and Kjaer, who was running her firm from Italy, was supposed to hand over the money to Ms Tomsa.

But instead she paid other clients and settled business debts, transferred some cash to her daughter and used it for her tax bill.

By the time regulators stepped in, half the money had vanished.

Disgraced lawyer Analiza Kjaer (pictured) used a client's £132,000 divorce settlement to pay off her tax bill, the Old Bailey heard

Kjaer, 50, was spared jail at her sentencing - instead given a two-year sentence suspended for two years and ordered to complete 100 hours' unpaid work

READ MORE: Solicitor who used client account as her own 'piggy bank' and transferred £48,000 to herself to splash out on a Range Rover for her boyfriend is struck off 

The lawyer was thrown out of the legal profession but she has now been spared jail after a judge heard she was abused by her husband and suffers from mental health problems.

Kjaer was born in the Philippines in a family of eight and studied law in the UK as a mature student.

She set up her company Able Law in offices in The Broadway in Wimbledon, south-west London, but eventually moved to Italy with her husband and daughter.

The settlement was awarded to Ms Tomsa in 2020 and early the following year she emailed Kjaer asking when she could expect the money.

Kjaer promised in February 2021 she would transfer the money - but it never materialised and the client reported her to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

SRA officials visited Able Law's office and likened it to the famously deserted 19th century ship the Mary Celeste, the Old Bailey heard.

By then Able Law's client account had a balance of just £64,461.

Kjaer was struck off in February last year and arrested for fraud when she returned to Gatwick from Italy the following month.

Her barrister Katherine Higgs said Kjaer has now been made bankrupt, was extremely remorseful and had sent the court a letter of apology.

Kjaer's husband was an unemployed gambling addict who was given a suspended sentence in Italy for half-strangling her when she tried to leave him, Miss Higgs said.

The lawyer added: 'She did this in a state of desperation because she was having to support her daughter and her husband who was not working.

Kjaer was struck off as a lawyer in February last year and has now been given a criminal sentence at the Old Bailey in London (pictured in a file photo)

READ MORE: Solicitor, 55, is struck off after using nearly £5,000 of her clients' money to buy jewellery 

'She was concerned about the consequences of not supporting her husband.'

Passing sentence, Judge Rebecca Trowler said Kjaer had promised to pay the client after her first chasing email - adding: 'However, that did not happen - and it never did happen.

'It transpired that approximately half of the money had been used by you for other purposes. Ms Tomsa to use her words, fell apart.

'It caused her great distress. She was unable to sleep, she lost weight and she had to move into her daughter's home temporarily.'

But the judge told Kjaer the crime was 'plainly committed by you out of desperation against the background of mistreatment by your husband.

'You have been struck off and therefore lost your career as a solicitor.'

The judge also spoke of Kjaer's mental health issues and problems with intense anxiety, suggesting her progress tackling these would be hindered by a jail term.

Kjaer was given a two-year sentence suspended for two years and ordered to complete 100 hours' unpaid work.

Ms Tomsa was eventually reimbursed from the legal profession's compensation fund.

Kjaer, from Bethnal Green in east London, admitted fraud by abuse of position, between 2 July 2020 and 1 June 2021.