A trainee property solicitor has been banned from the legal profession after being convicted of helping her brother flee overseas to avoid arrest for murder.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has disqualified a trainee lawyer from working within the legal profession after finding her guilty of helping her brother evade arrest over a murder charge.
Husna Khan began her career in the legal sector in 2020 and was working as a trainee property lawyer in the conveyancing remortgage department at UK firm O’Neill Patient Solicitors when she was jailed over the incident.
In a notice published by the SRA this week, it was revealed that Khan’s brother, Khayam Khurshid, had been convicted of murdering Cole Kershaw and of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life on 26 March 2021.
The incident occurred on 12 August 2020, when Kershaw was shot and fatally wounded by gunfire from a car.
According to the SRA, Khurshid was “in the car with another person who fired the shots”, and the pair subsequently “fled the scene”.
In the aftermath, Khan and her sister spent nine days aiding Khurshid, first by “hiding him in a hotel” and then helping him “flee the country” in an attempt to evade prosecution for murder, a plan that reportedly cost them £2,800.
Police tracked the trio, leading to Khurshid’s arrest in Amsterdam on 18 August, while the sisters were detained upon their return to England.
Nearly two years later, on 2 July 2024, Khan was convicted on indictment of assisting an offender by impeding apprehension or prosecution in relation to a murder offence.
The following month, she was sentenced to 30 months in prison, ordered to forfeit her car, and required to pay a £190 victim surcharge.
SRA stated the O’Neill Patient Solicitors was “not aware of Ms Khan’s arrest or conviction until the conviction was reported on the police website on 19 August 2024”, after which the firm notified the SRA the following day and terminated her employment on 22 August.
The regulator ruled that Khan’s actions violated principles requiring solicitors and legal staff to uphold the rule of law, act with integrity, and maintain public confidence in the profession.
Her conduct was deemed “serious” and “premeditated”, with the regulator warning that it “posed a risk to public confidence in the solicitors’ profession and in legal services provided by authorised persons”.
The SRA ordered that Khan is prohibited from working in any SRA-regulated firm without prior approval and must also pay £600 in costs.
