A LAWYER jailed for trying to rape a fellow solicitor was last night

looking forward to practising again after escaping being struck off.

Angus Diggle, a 38-year-old Scot who now lives in Bolton, Greater

Manchester, was suspended for one year by the solicitors' disciplinary

tribunal in London.

Its chairman, Mr Barrie Marsh, said that although the matter was very

serious, Diggle had been punished for the criminal offence and had

served his debt to society.

Diggle was convicted at the Old Bailey in August 1993 of trying to

rape the 25-year-old Glasgow woman. She worked as a lawyer in Edinburgh.

They danced together and drank champagne, whisky, and wine at a St

Andrew's Day ball at a hotel in Park Lane, central London.

They returned to a friend's flat in Earl's Court, where Diggle agreed

to sleep on the floor but made advances to the woman.

He was wearing only his spectacles, the frilly cuffs of his full

Highland dress, and a green condom.

He was later alleged to have told police: ''I have spent #200 on her.

Why can't I do what I did to her?''

He was sentenced to three years in jail, reduced on appeal to two

years, and was released from Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire at

the end of September after serving a year.

Mr Marsh said Diggle had effectively not practised law for about two

years, so a one-year ban was the fair and right way to deal with the

situation.

''We feel that, in this particular case, a suspension is the

appropriate order,'' he said.

After the hearing, Diggle refused to speak but his counsel, Mr Michael

Borrelli, said: ''Mr Diggle hopes to have the opportunity from everybody

to put this matter behind him.

''He would also like to thank members of the press and a great many

members of the public who have offered him support.''

Afterwards, a family law practitioner, Mr Martin Mears, said: ''I am

surprised at this result because I would have thought either he would

have been struck off or not brought before the tribunal at all.

''The question is whether he was an intended rapist or not. If he was,

then he should be struck off. If he was not, then he shouldn't have been

sentenced in the first place and should never have appeared before a

tribunal.

''This suspension doesn't make sense. He is in a half-way house.''

Mr Richard Ferguson QC, who represented Diggle in the Court of Appeal

last year, said his former client had been punished enough.

''Punishment must be appropriate and not vindictive. If the Law

Society think it appropriate to give him this chance, then that is a

matter for them.

''He has served his debt to society,'' he said.