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Macfarlanes partner invented kidnap story to avoid drink-driving charge, court hears

16 December 2011 | By Joshua Freedman

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Former Macfarlanes partner Francis Bridgeman is alleged to have lied to police that he had been kidnapped in order to get out of a drink-driving charge, a court has heard.

Bridgeman, a restructuring partner who recently resigned form the firm’s LLP, claimed he had been attacked by an armed gang who stole his Range Rover Sport and crashed it into a telegraph pole while he was driving home from work, the Daily Mail and The Mirror have reported.

However, prosecutors told Lewes Crown Court that Bridgeman crashed the four-wheel drive vehicle himself on 6 April after drinking five pints of Guinness, according to the reports.

Prosecutor Richard Barton told the court: “This case is about how the defendant on his way home from work one night was drunk and foolishly tried to drive home. He did not succeed. Rather he crashed into a telegraph pole, thereby writing the car off, and then fled the scene of the accident.

“After that he fabricated a web of lies, claiming to have been kidnapped by armed men, and he did so in order to avoid questions about the crash.”

Giving evidence yesterday, Bridgeman said: “I was tired and gagging for a sugar fix,” according to the Daily Mail.

Bridgeman joined Macfarlanes from Allen & Overy in 2009 (31 August 2009).

Companies House filings show he left Macfarlanes’ LLP on 31 July this year.

Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin said: “As you will understand this is a personal matter. Francis resigned in the summer.”

The trial continues.

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Readers' comments (19)

  • Anonymous | 16-Dec-2011 2:50 pm

    Macfarlanes is getting almost as accident prone as SJ Berwin.

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  • Anonymous | 16-Dec-2011 3:58 pm

    What on earth was he thinking? Astonishing.

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  • Anonymous | 16-Dec-2011 4:05 pm

    at last, an interesting stiory in the Lawyer

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  • Kim Philby | 16-Dec-2011 4:42 pm

    Been reading too much John Grisham!

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  • Anonymous | 16-Dec-2011 5:01 pm

    Sugar Fix? Five pints of Guinness? Just have a Mars bar for goodness' sake!

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  • Anonymous | 16-Dec-2011 6:50 pm

    Claimed not have crashed the car but DNA on the airbag proved otherwise.
    Are Partners at City Law firms all this thick ?

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  • Christine Bleakley | 16-Dec-2011 7:27 pm

    Serious question:

    Not being a lawyer, what are the professional inmplications of being convicted for something like this?

    (assuming the kipper had just pleaded guilty and not made up this b******s)

    Are you still ok to practice as a civl lawyer, or do you lose your license/practicing certificate?

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  • Anonymous | 16-Dec-2011 8:57 pm

    Show some sympathy legal profession.

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  • Anonymous | 18-Dec-2011 11:36 am

    He was found guilty on the Friday. He collapsed in the dock from a panic attack for which he was taken to hospital for. He was told a prison sentence was likely.

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  • Michael Haversham | 18-Dec-2011 7:50 pm

    Good for Francis (well not the drink driving bit but the rest of the story...) - so much more interesting than dreary tales of what drone is moving jobs which no one with a personality really cares about anyway!

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  • Gilbert Faversham | 19-Dec-2011 11:02 am

    It's the llamas I feel sorry for in all of this.

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  • Anonymous | 19-Dec-2011 1:13 pm

    It is hard to feel sympathy for someone who has so spectacularly brought about his own downfall. The sympathy should be reserved for his wife and kids who now have to pick up the pieces as a consequence of his immense stupidity.

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  • Anon | 19-Dec-2011 2:18 pm

    Sympathy for who? Sounds like it is only by luck that he didn't kill someone, given he couldn't avoid a stationary telegraph pole which, presumably, was situated on the pavement, hitting it with enough force to write off a very sturdy range rover. Sympathy for who?

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  • Anonymous | 19-Dec-2011 10:22 pm

    So funny - Macfarlanes really is full of old school city boy partners who think they can get away with anything. Its nice to see they get their just deserts in the end!

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  • Anonymous | 20-Dec-2011 1:12 pm

    A very sad story

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  • Anonymous | 20-Dec-2011 11:06 pm

    Slightly worrying that this sort of thing goes on at macfarlanes. Is this the sort of person they let in??

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  • Anonymous | 23-Dec-2011 5:08 pm

    Clearly none of those condemning him knows the guy or his circumstances. Whilst we can all agree that drinking & driving is clearly a stupid thing to do, it is also understandable that in a slightly befuddled state he may have panicked and made up this ridiculous story. Why he didn't fess up when he was sober is also understandable to a degree (reputation etc.), and I'm sure he now wishes he had.
    A ban for drink driving isn't the end of the world, but a prison sentence might seem like it.

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  • Anonymous | 21-Jan-2012 10:47 pm

    I can see no reason why he should be locked up at the expense of the tax payer. I have known him since age 4 and, with no driving licence, he is hardly a threat to the public. He will be punishing himself severely no doubt. Surely many hours community service would be better? No-one knows his personal circumstances - if they did they might be more sympathetic. I hope he can get his life back together fairly quickly and utilise his unquestionable talents.

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  • Anonymous | 28-Jan-2012 10:30 pm

    I think the reason he got a prison sentence, is because he lied to the police and tried to maintain that lie, throughout the proceedings. You may think it's waste of tax payers money, but he has to be made to pay for wasting police time and money. If he'd just held up his hands and accepted the drink drive charge, he'd still have a job and no criminal record. I think the judge summed it up quite eloquently quoting Walter Scott's Marmion 'oh what a tangled web we weave,when first we practice to deceive'.

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