A magistrate has been issued with a formal warning for misconduct after he appeared as a complainant in a criminal trial which was then aborted because of conflict of interest.
The trial at Loughborough magistrates' court was aborted because of the conflict of interest in a bench presiding over a trial involving one of its own magistrates, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said. The magistrate, Andrew York, took ‘full responsibility for the error’ and apologised.
The JCIO said: ‘He explained that he did inform the police of his role as a magistrate when giving his statement, and similarly advised a member of court staff when notified about the trial date. Mr York cited personal circumstances as the reason for the oversight but accepted that he should have informed his bench chair at the earliest opportunity.’
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Mr Justice Keehan, on behalf of the lady chief justice, and with the lord chancellor’s agreement, found York’s failure to report his involvement in court proceedings amounted to misconduct.
The JCIO said: ‘The failure resulted in operational harm as a trial had to be aborted on the day, thereby wasting court resources.’
Taking into account York’s ‘unblemished conduct record and assurance that it would not happen again’, York was issued with a formal warning.
