A Tenby solicitor who took almost three years to wind up "one of the simplest of estates" was on Tuesday fined £7,500 and ordered to pay a further £3,500 in costs at the end of a disciplinary hearing.

Mr. R. Christopher Jones had admitted to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal sitting in Central London that he had not given sufficient attention to probate work on the will when working for the firm of Jones and Jones, of Court Chambers, High Street, Tenby, between 1998 and 2000.

For the Law Society, Mr. Stuart Turner explained that the estate was valued at around £77,000 and should have been "without complication." There were only three beneficiaries and most of the money was being held by the Public Trustees.

There had been an initial dispute between the beneficiaries about the division of their legacies, but this had been resolved not long after the death.

As matters dragged on over months the beneficiaries bombarded Mr. Jones with letters which he ignored and eventually made a formal complaint to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors.

When they wrote to Mr. Jones he again ignored their request for information and when he did eventually reply, did not fully answer the allegations being made against him.

"There was a total mismanagement of the file," said Mr. Turner. "In one of his letters to the OSS a complainant spoke of his 'sheer frustration' at the evasive answers being given by Mr. Jones and his staff to his demands for action.

"There was a wall of indifference."

For Mr. Jones, who attended the hearing, Mr. Chris McKay said at the time his client had been under severe pressure. While he had specialised in probate matters at the Tenby firm, staff shortages had meant that he was required to take on additional work.

"He should not have taken the extra work on. He found the pressure was too much."

The beneficiaries of the will had been paid both compensation and interest due over the period of delay and Mr. Jones, who had a previously blameless career stretching over 30 years, was "deeply remorseful" about what had happened.

He appreciated that disciplinary action would be taken against him but hoped he would still be allowed to continue in practice.