Detectives were today hunting a disgraced Bradford solicitor after legal clients were swindled out of £1.5 million.

Fraud squad officers revealed they were desperate to trace John Fitzpatrick, pictured, who disappeared after an investigation was started into the firm where he worked.

T I Clough & Company, one of the city's longest established practices, had already been shut down by the Law Society, which had heard how customers' cash was used to stave off bankruptcy.

And a professional tribunal heard how partners also allowed the 100-year-old company to become involved in a massive money laundering operation.

The revelations prompted a police investigation into the activities of the business, which was based in Bride House Road.

Today, police said they wanted to question Mr Fitzpatrick, 54, formerly of Halifax Road, Liversedge, in connection with fraud.

A spokesman said: "Mr Fitzpatrick is sought in connection with a fraud investigation being jointly conducted by the West Yorkshire Police Fraud Squad and the Serious Fraud Office."

Although the police were tight-lipped about the precise nature of the probe, the spokesman added: "The investigation centres upon a number of transactions involving a former Bradford firm of solicitors, from where Mr Fitzpatrick operated in 1999/2000. Police are anxious to speak to Mr Fitzpatrick in relation to certain client deficiencies totalling £1.5 million".

In March, three lawyers from the firm - Mr Fitzpatrick, Phillip Hirst and Stephen Murdoch - were struck off the solicitors' roll following a disciplinary tribunal.

It was told how discrepancies came to light when investigating accountants were called in to go through the company books.

George Marriot, for the Law Society, told how they discovered that sums of up to £190,000 had been transferred from the firm's client account and switched into the business account or the solicitors' personal bank accounts.

He said there was also evidence that one client used the firm as a bank account - paying in large sums of money and instructing the solicitors to issue cheques in the firm's name or from the lawyers' personal accounts.

Mr Fitzpartick and Mr Hirst did not attend the hearing, claiming health problems. Mr Murdoch accepted that cash was taken out of client accounts to keep the firm afloat at a time when it faced £750,000 in VAT bills and owed more money to the Solicitors' Indemnity Fund.