A government-appointed trustee is investigating the financial affairs of shamed former Monmouth solicitor Russell Hiscott.

The secretary of state for trade and industry, Patricia Hewitt, has appointed an insolvency practitioner as trustee in the bankruptcy of Hiscott, who has admitted stealing nearly £500,000 from the estates of dead clients.

Hiscott, of Filton Road, Bristol, admitted thefts from clients between 1998 and 2002 at Newport crown court last Friday. He is awaiting sentence. He was made bankrupt in the Bristol county court on October 21 last year.

Graham Down, a partner in Bristol insolvency practitioners BN Jackson Norton, has been appointed as trustee in the bankruptcy.

Mr Down said: "My function is to investigate Mr Hiscott's affairs with a view to realising any assets that he may have and distribute them amongst his creditors. I would welcome information from creditors or others that would assist me in my investigation."

The Law Society, the solicitors' regulatory body, appointed agents to take over Hiscott's firm, Hiscott & Co, in March, 2002.

The society has said of the case: "The respondent's dishonest taking of clients' money could only bring the solicitors' profession into disrepute and it was right that the public be protected from a solicitor prepared to act in such a manner."