A magistrate who breached the court’s car parking rules has been issued with a formal warning for serious misconduct.
Sharanjit Sandhu was accused of breaching protocol on use of a court car park and attempting to mislead the complainant and others when she was first questioned about it.
Sandhu accepted she had breached the court's parking protocol on two occasions, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said. It added: ‘She stated that this was due to a misunderstanding about her scheduled sittings and the circumstances in which it was acceptable to use the car park. She also stated that the issue had been resolved with the court security staff.’
Sandhu’s explanation for the car park misuse was not accepted. An investigation found her explanation and her claim to have resolved the matter with security staff ‘to be intentionally false’. The investigating judge ‘noted that he would have made a finding of misconduct rather than serious misconduct in relation to misuse of the car park,’ the JCIO said.
‘However, Mrs Sandhu’s decision to give a false account of the matter was a significant aggravating factor. This elevated his finding to one of serious misconduct.’
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A complaint was also made by a fellow magistrate that Sandhu had been rude to him and a member of court staff. Sandhu denied the accusation and an investigation found no misconduct in relation to the complaint. The complaint was dismissed.
Mr Justice Keehan, on behalf of the lady chief justice, and with the lord chancellor’s agreement issued Sandhu with a formal warning for serious misconduct in relation to the car park and misleading statements.
