A top property solicitor has been struck off after he headbutted the father of an Eastenders star during a £100 million legal battle.
Philip Saunders, 69, was caught on CCTV assaulting property developer Mohammad Reza Ghadami on the nose after a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in April 2016.
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The 69-year-old claimed he lost his temper after Mr Ghadami made a vile anti-Semitic comment but did not give further details of the exact words used.
Mr Ghadami, father of Davood, who plays Kush in the BBC soap, was left with blood streaming down his face and had to be taken to hospital for surgery.
At a misconduct hearing at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in London Saunders said: I am an observant religious Jew. I have a high moral standard.
I completely lost all self-control as a result of this comment he made. I am bitterly ashamed that I lost my temper.
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I am not trying to justify my actions but to put them into perspective.
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I cannot see how my behaviour on that day in the face of a raw anti-Semitic comment negates the way I behaved and behave since.
After a three-hour hearing Edward Nelly, chair of the disciplinary panel, said the panel found he had failed to act with integrity.
He said: You were convicted for a criminal assault. We have reflected on that and the initial unhappy context – as an unwise engagement with Mr Ghadami in the Rolls Building about the subject of costs.
We have considered carefully what the behaviour of Mr Saunders demonstrates, on that unhappy day, and we accept the submissions of both persons that a single act may constitute a lack of integrity.
We are sorry to find that allegation proved, while fully understanding the explanation Mr Saunders has offered. We must not conflate mitigation with fact.
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Saunders was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence after being convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Inner London Crown Court on 31 January 2017.
The men had been involved on opposing sides in an ongoing land dispute.
Mr Ghadami said the headbutting came out of the blue.
Saunders, who has been a solicitor for more than 40 years, said he had stopped practising immediately after the incident.
He admitted failing to uphold the law and failing to maintain public trust and confidence in the profession but denied failing to act with integrity.
Saunders, of Vale Close, Maida Vale, west London, was also ordered to pay £4,611 in costs.
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