A fraudster who posed as a barrister after tricking a prestigious law firm into hiring him as been jailed for more than two years today.

Scott Willey, 27, became “obsessive” about pursuing a career in law and worked on 18 cases in two years for 4 Brick Court legal chambers despite never graduating.

One of the cases he was involved with has already had to be re-heard.

Willey attended the City Law School but failed to pass the required exams, resulting in him not being called to the Bar. However, he was still able to accept a pupillage position at the Temple chambers in July 2016 and joined the firm and joined at the start of October 2017.

Willey hacked into a colleague's email account and stole a copy of a practising certificate, which then he edited to pass off as his own.

He also used another colleague's legal registration details to maintain the appearance of being a barrister before disciplinary bodies.

Willey, of Walderslade Road, Chatham, Kent, used these documents to get a legal aid account and told his bosses he had past exams with a mark of very competent.

But colleagues start to unravel his elaborate lie after realising there were inconsistencies in his story and the truth was eventually uncovered on 7 June last year after discrepancies in the evidence he had provided about his qualifications came to light.