A DISGRACED architect jailed for using forged planning documents to dupe a vulnerable client has had his prison sentence slashed by appeal judges.

Richard John Lindsay, 64, was jailed for three years and seven months at Carlisle Crown Court in November after admitting fraud and four counts of forgery.

He also asked for an offence of perverting the course of justice to be taken into consideration.

The qualified architect, kicked out of the profession over allegations relating to a loft conversion in the 1990s, appealed last week and had the sentence cut to three years.

From 2007, Lindsay, of Calva Brow, Workington, had been doing work for a client, working on plans and applying for planning permission, Mrs Justice Nicola Davies told the Court of Appeal in London.

But, when he failed to win permission for plans in Victoria Road, Whitehaven, in June 2007, he created false council documents.

The papers purported to suggest that permission would be granted imminently, leading the client into giving Lindsay £6,500 worth of work.

He also spent money on solicitors’ fees.

His crimes only came to light after his client died.

After he was arrested, Lindsay told police he just liked to tell people what they wanted to hear.

“These offences were committed by an intelligent man. They were part of a consistent course of conduct,” said Mrs Justice Davies, who heard Lindsay’s sentence appeal with Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Hedley.

“It was conduct which involved a breach of trust, perpetrated on a man who was vulnerable by reason of his health.”

But the overall sentence of three years and seven months was too long, the judges concluded, and would be cut to three years.