A solicitor who stabbed his colleague with a six-inch kitchen knife has agreed to come off the roll, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed.

Kevin Lane, a former manager and owner of Aberavon Lawyers Limited (trading as Kevin Lane and Co), provided an undertaking to the regulator to have his name removed in September, it was revealed this week. He further undertook never to apply to be readmitted to the roll and to pay £1,170 investigation costs.

Lane, then 66, was last year detained in a secure mental health unit following the attack on another director of the company, solicitor Rory McCreesh, in June 2022.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Lane had been suffering from depression, paranoia and delusions brought on during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lane had run the firm in Port Talbot for more than 30 years but had agreed to sell the business and remain in a consultancy role. When McCreesh and Lane’s nephew Rhys visited his home, he invited them in and then unexpectedly and suddenly jumped towards McCreesh and attacked him.

Lane was described in court as a valued member of his community and his attack as wholly out of character.