Fugitive Malcolm John West unfit for trial, but fraudulent conversion charges proven, court told

An international fugitive and former president of the state Liberal Party illegally moved client funds, ripped off barristers and enriched himself, a judge has found.

A former Liberal Party president who became an international fugitive has been found unfit to stand trial for more than two dozen fraud charges from his time as a lawyer.

On Monday, John Malcolm West, 76, was found to have committed 27 counts of fraudulent conversion for his illegal movement of customer money into a false trust account for his own use.

District Court Judge Paul Muscat said he was satisfied West had moved the sums of money between legitimate and false accounts to “rob Peter to pay Paul”.

West, while acting as both a partner within a law firm and a sole practitioner, stole money from some clients and illegally used some funds to pay other clients.

John Malcolm West outside the Adelaide District Court in November 2022. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

John Malcolm West as an SA lawyer in October 1979.

All up West illegally converted $87,241 of his client’s money, which included withdrawing cheques in the names of hospitals and senior barristers, but then paying them into his own trust account.

Judge Muscat said West had opened a fund with a Murray Bridge bank which his fellow lawyers thought was an office account.

Instead it was used as a shadow trust account, where client’s funds would be funnelled and sometimes used for West’s own purposes and other times to pay out court orders.

West was scheduled to stand trial in January 1988 in the SA Supreme Court when he fled the country.

Using a false passport, West fled to Africa with his wife, former Olympic sprinter Verna Burnard, where they lived in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. The couple also spent time in the Middle East and in the UK, where West acquired an Irish passport.

For more than 30 years, West remained on the run with a warrant for his arrest hanging over his head from the Supreme Court.

John Malcolm West with his wife, Verna Burnard. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

His time as a fugitive came to an end when he returned to Australia in 2022 to visit his elderly mother and mother-in-law.

West was in Queensland visiting his daughter when she became concerned about his declining cognition.

She applied for a Medicare card on his behalf to enable him to be seen by a specialist, but unwittingly alerted authorities to her father’s arrival in Australia.

He was arrested in Queensland and brought before the Townsville Magistrates Court.

The court granted him limited bail with the strict instruction of presenting himself to the Supreme Court in Adelaide.

West did as instructed and, for the first time, was remanded in custody as a flight risk.

On Monday, Leah O’Donnell, prosecuting, said she conceded that West was not capable of instructing lawyers because of his failing short-term memory.

Judge Muscat formally found that West had committed the objective elements of the crime, namely the movement and the theft of the money.

However, because West was not fit to stand trial, he could not make a finding of the subjective elements or whether the lawyer had intended to steal the money or had acted dishonestly.

West now becomes liable for a period of supervision the same length as if he had been sentenced for the crime.

He will return to court in April.