TWO former police officers have joined forces with celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman - nicknamed Mr Loophole - to try to help drivers escape convictions.

Mr Freeman, the scourge of traffic police, has recruited husband-and-wife team Dawn and Chris Sweetman to bolster his Manchester law firm.

They left Greater Manchester Police to forge careers as lawyers before joining Freeman and Co.

Mr Freeman, 51, from Mere, Knutsford, has successfully represented a roll call of famous names in motoring cases, including Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and footballer David Beckham. The £10,000-a-day solicitor was nicknamed Mr Loophole for helping drivers escape conviction.

Delighted

Mr Freeman said: "I'm delighted to have recruited this dynamic team. I'm confident they will prove a real asset and help us maintain our position as one of the country's most successful law firms."

Chris Sweetman trained as a solicitor with a Rochdale firm before joining GMP as a Pc in 1993, meeting Dawn two years later. He left in 1997 and joined Burton Copeland solicitors, going on to be called the Bar in 2004.

He has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the Full Sutton prison riots in 1999, the Sharon Beshenivsky murder case and the case of Sally Clarke, the Cheshire solicitor wrongly convicted of murdering her two babies.

Dawn Sweetman joined GMP in 1991 and left in 1997 to work in civil law, switching to criminal law the following year.

She qualified as a solicitor in 2005, heading the Crown Court department of Rochdale-based Healy Connor Mulcahy. For the past two years, she was with a large city practice.

Mr Freeman, who has trademarked his `Mr Loophole' nickname, has represented famous clients including the TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson and EastEnders' actor Steve McFadden and sporting figures including golfer Colin Montgomerie, footballer Wayne Rooney and snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan.