Hunter’s Farm in East Sussex is exactly the sort of house that you might imagine belongs to a top London lawyer.

With its 18th century buildings, 52 acres of land, swimming pool, gym and separate ‘Dairy Cottage’, the sprawling £3.4million estate offers a welcome oasis from the cut and thrust of corporate life.

Until he was forced to sell the house to cover his own mounting legal costs, the man who lived here sat at the pinnacle of his profession. Neil Gerrard, 68, was head of white collar litigation at Dechert, one of the most fearsome law firms operating today.

A former Metropolitan police officer, in the 1980s, Mr Gerrard dodged bottles thrown at him on the streets of Peckham. But by 2012 he was earning £2million a year advising big firms and national governments on corporate fraud.

But the man who once claimed to have been shortlisted to lead the Serious Fraud Office is now facing explosive allegations, albeit as-yet unproven, of kidnapping, torture, cyberhacking and coaching High Court witnesses to lie. Some of the allegations, all of which Mr Gerrard strongly denies, have been described as the most serious ever levelled against a British solicitor.

Read more at dailymail.co.uk
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