Court bails Hove legal secretary accused of plundering £500k

A secretary at a Hove firm of solicitors has been remanded on bail by magistrates charged with stealing almost half a million pounds.

Leanne Harris, 25, appeared before the Brighton bench but did not enter a plea to the seven charges that she faces.

Harris, who worked for Arscotts in Lansdowne Place, Hove, from 2008 to 2010 is accused of plundering a client account and stealing £200,000 from the estate of someone who had died.

She is also said to have taken more than £60,000 from an elderly lady for whom she had power of attorney.

Harris, who lives in Gildredge in the village of Whitesmith, near Hailsham, was bailed until Friday 14 October.