A solicitor appeared before magistrates to face 44 charges of deception and false accounting.

Nigel Weller, 47, of Park Lane, Laughton, who runs a firm of lawyers in the Brighton area, denied one charge of attempting to obtain a money transfer by deception and denied 43 counts of false accounting between 1994 and 1995.

The Crown Prosecution Service estimates the total amount of money involved in the allegations related to Weller runs to more than £77,000.

Teresa Blades, of Holland Street, Brighton, also appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court and denied two allegations of false accounting.

Blades, 35, was an assistant solicitor working with Weller at the time of the alleged offences.

They were both bailed to reappear before Portsmouth magistrates on November 23.