A Luton solicitor has been jailed for 12 months for falsely claiming more than £150,000 from the Legal Services Commission.

Najaf Shah, who worked at Alexander Solicitors and Advocates in Luton, submitted fraudulent legal aid bills totalling £158,000. In one instance he claimed for 101 prison visits to a client when he had only made 20 visits. In another, he billed for work that he said had been done by a colleague who no longer worked for the firm.

Tax officials spotted the fraud when they noticed that bills submitted by Shah were much higher than those from other firms acting in the same case.

Shah admitted three counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court. He said he falsified the documents to cover up the fact that he had lost the originals when his suitcase went missing while he was on holiday.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority said it was initiating disciplinary proceedings against Shah in light of his conviction. His former firm declined to comment.

In an unrelated case last week a woman received a suspended sentence for holding herself out as a solicitor. Ghazala Sarwar was given a four-month sentence suspended for two years at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court after she pleaded guilty to one count of pretending to be a solicitor and one charge of fraud.

Sarwar worked as a lawyer in the legal department at water and utilities provider United Utilities for 14 months during 2008 and 2009, after holding herself out to be a qualified solicitor. She had used forged documents purportedly from the Law Society to deceive her employers.

Sarwar had previously been subject to a Section 43 Order by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which prevents an unadmitted person being employed as a solicitor. That order was made in 2004 after Sarwar had gained employment as a solicitor at Manchester firm Pannone & Partners, after dishonestly holding herself out as a solicitor in 2002.

The sentencing judge said that, despite no apparent loss to any clients, the offence was equivalent to unqualified persons holding themselves out as professionals such as doctors or brain surgeons, and the professions needed protection.

A United Utilities spokesperson said Sarwar worked for the company from April 2008 to July 2009, when her contract was ­‘terminated for gross misconduct’.