Bad Dad4Lad.
A tax lawyer who worked for a virtual law firm has been struck off following his conviction for attempting sexual communications with a child.
Daniel Pipe, who was a consultant for Jurit, fell for a sting operation on the Grindr dating app, where his user name was ‘Dad4Lad’.
An undercover police officer using the profile name ‘Josh Josh’ had created a fake profile on which he wrote, “last week half term soooooo bored today, anyone wanna chat”.
Pipe did, writing “hi” to ‘Josh’, who replied that he was “chilling” because it was half term.
Pipe escalated matters rapidly, responding, “Nice. Just chilling too jerking my dick to some porn”.
When ‘Josh’ said that he was 13 years old, Pipe replied, “No Probs” and immediately sent across two dick pics and asked 'Josh' if he has ever “played with a fat one like that”.
In between telling ‘Josh’ about his job as a lawyer, Pipe asked the cop he thought was a 13-year-old boy what he was wearing, saying that he was in a t-shirt and had his “cock out” as “I’m gonna be wanking it all evening”.
Pipe told ‘Josh’ that he "should be wanking now" as he was old enough and suggested that he could give the boy oral sex and show him how to do it. He added a thumbs up emoji, and said that he was married and that married men “suck better”.
The solicitor then attempted to invite ‘Josh’ over to get a takeaway and watch porn together, telling him he had the house to himself, and providing his address and phone number.
Pipe was arrested at home a month later and convicted in September 2021, having failed to convince the jury that he thought he was communicating with an adult who was roleplaying as a child.
Pipe maintained his ‘incredibly risky assumption’ defence before the SDT, and attempted to cast the interaction as an isolated “moment of madness”.
But the SDT said the 90 minute online chat indicated it was more than a moment, while the damage Pipe’s misconduct had wrought on the reputation of the profession was “significant”.
“When looked at dispassionately this case was a stark one wherein an adult had pursued a highly sexualised conversation with a person who said he was 13 years old”, the tribunal said.
Pipe, who was featured on Jurit's website until relevantly recently and appeared in a Bonkers Law Firm Website piece last year, was struck off and ordered to pay the SRA's costs of £7,350.
Know who wants you. LawyerUp lets top firms ping your app when they like you for a role. Grab it on the App Store and Google Play.
Comments
74
60
Yeah, well, er, can we be sure tha... um...
Nope. Even I'm out here.
57
55
Dad4Pipe would have been a stronger approach
60
61
Pipe, who was featured on Jurit's website until relevantly recently and appeared in a Bonkers Law Firm Website piece last year, was struck off
This is a disgrace - the SDT should be punishing this fellow, not rewarding him in this onanistic way.
93
54
I knew a lad at school who had an affair with a female teacher 24 years his senior - everyone knew about it, but no-one did anything. Still, he became President of France, so well done to him.
76
66
There’s nothing worse than a nonce.
57
80
You enjoy mocking a foolish man as he is ruined... Yuck.
89
59
Fascinating hill you’ve picked to die on, Smarticus.
80
49
OK Groomer.
65
51
Disgusting.
60
70
Entrapment, no?
83
54
Not entrapment but feel sorry for the copper who has to pretend to be a 13 year old lad and chat with nonces.
81
75
Out of interest, which part of the definition of entrapment does it not satisfy?
Per LexisNexis: "it is considered to be an abuse of the process of the court for state agents to lure a person into committing illegal acts and then seek to prosecute him for doing so."
87
48
Mr Five Per Cent: at what point did the police officer say "hey, why don't you send me some pics of your knob, tell me about how you're jerking yourself off, and invite me to engage in underage sexual activity with you"?
Telling he was 13 was not entrapment.
75
80
How is this not the top story? Piping hot.
50
51
I'm not a crime boff but I assume it is based on who propositions who. A plain clothes police officer who is asked if he would like to buy a gram of coke is not entrapping the drug dealer by responding: "I sure do love coke but I have a yuppy lawyer party coming up, got anything stronger?" Even if the only reason he was stood where he was is so that he could b approached by a dealer.
It's playing along with a proposition to see how far the nonce or dealer will take it based on their perception of who they are talking to.
56
64
@9.39 - yep, you've finally realised the difference between a serious matter, tried and proven in court, and a malicious or false allegation. Well done you! Keep it up!
68
55
@No Answer Woman
You seem to forget that when matters like this are appealed to a "serious court", the man always wins. Just look at the comments on the Bretherton story (and basically any other story where a man is found guilty of misconduct) and you'll see Question Man's wisdom on the matter.
However, Question Man only cares about smearing women and so I have little interest in this story.
55
53
In French "pipe" is another word for "bj".
50
61
Seems a bit weird that it’s an offence to communicate in this way with someone who isn’t actually underage.
50
60
Also, I’m not defending the moral nature of this guy’s conduct, but to suggest that it wrought significant damage on the reputation of the profession of which he was completely coincidentally a member seems like the kind of hand-wringing, pontificatory self-justifying bilge in which the SDT and SRA specialise. Who actually things worse of solicitors because this guy was one?
51
53
To be fair, I don't know what I'm talking about on any of this. I regularly impersonate others on Grindr myself.
66
56
VILE
62
56
Cut iz bollocks off!
I would be quite happy if the following sentence could be passed by our Crown Courts on paedo types:
“It is the sentence of this court that you be taken from this place to a lawful prison, and thence to a place of mutilation, where you will suffer removal of testicles by guillotine, and your testicles be fed to the dog of the Governor of the prison where you were confined prior to your mutilation. And may the other prisoners have mercy on your hole”.
74
44
It’s entrapment when the police go beyond the mere detection of crime and manufacture offences that might not have otherwise been committed. This is far short of entrapment - the police are simply posing as a victim and waiting for offenders to commit the offence.
63
48
Genuinely amazed at the number of people on here handwringing about entrapment etc.
He's a paedophile.
Do you want the police to catch paedophiles or not?
51
48
Strike off his Dame Cressida and hang him by the Balkans
58
40
In French "pipe" is another word for "bj".
I have a nickname for Boris Johnson too, but it's not "pipe".
44
60
Thanks. I should mention that my username is a reflection of how much of my brain I am capable of using.
55
62
He seems like a very unpleasant character but is the public mocking/ humiliation really necessary? He has already lost his livelihood and must be in a terrible place mentally. You worry about possible self harm in a situation like this.
71
46
Are you seriously suggesting that the Police lured the nonce into noncery and this was the first time he’d ever participated in trying to meet an underage boy?
Breathtaking naivety.
65
50
"He has already lost his livelihood and must be in a terrible place mentally. You worry about possible self harm in a situation like this."
Do you worry? Really?
If a paedophile is willing to self-administer the death sentence, then I don't think anyone here is going to fret that much about it.
45
51
Yes, I do worry. IF this is the only thing he has done, then given that nobody has really been damaged by it I would not want to see him hounded to self-harm/ death.
Admittedly there is another worry, which is that he might have committed more offences, with actual victims, and got away with them. It is difficult to sympathise too much but we don't and IMHO shouldn't have the death sentence for being a paedophile.
43
40
Yes, George is talking a lot of good sense and sound progressive thinking here.
If all that this fine upstanding chap has done is try to molest little boys then I wouldn't want to see him suff...
Wait, what?!
44
43
The nonce looks 60. You don’t wake up one morning and think, “after 60 years of life without, I’m now going to give noncery a go”.
Spare your sympathy for somebody deserving of it.
33
44
I didn't say he shouldn't be punished for trying to molest little boys. He should and has been. But I think a criminal conviction and being publicly stripped of your livelihood (life probably ruined, probably ending up as a Deliveroo driver) is enough. I don't think internet tarring and feathering is necessary. Just an opinion.
He might well have committed other offences but you can't convict/ punish for that without evidence.
32
42
A serious court will overturn the decision against Bretherton because it was unfair (for a start he was named and his accusers weren't), not because he is male.
However, No Answer Woman is only interested when females are making the accusations, so I have no interest in this story.