A HOVE solicitor, jailed for two years after being convicted of mortgage fraud, has been struck off the professional roll.

Andrew Mackenzie, 47, who ran Mackenzie Solicitors, a sole practice in Blatchington Road, Hove, and lives at South Strand, Angmering, continued to protest his innocence before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

However, the tribunal announced it was unable to go over a conviction in the criminal court and ordered his name be removed immediately

Ian Ryan, for the Law Society, told the Central London hearing the solicitor, who said he now earns a 'modest income', working for a sportswear manufacturer, was convicted at Maidstone Crown Court on August 13, 1997.

He had denied but was found guilty of one allegation of false accounting and four charges of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception.

Tribunal chairman Jeremy Barnecutt sitting with Adrian Gaynor-Smith and David Gilbertson said they had no option but to remove his name from the register with immediate effect.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.