UK Law Articles
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Independent
6 July 2000
Magistrate sackings on rise under Lord Irvine
By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent
The number of magistrates being sacked for misconduct and poor attendance has increased four-fold since Lord Irvine of Lairg became Lord Chancellor.
Lord Irvine dismissed a record 15 justices of the peace (JPs) last year, according to the latest figures released by the Government. Since 1997, when Labour came to power, the Lord Chancellor has asked 38 magistrates to leave the bench.
In the preceding three years, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the former Lord Chancellor, dismissed just eight magistrates.
A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's Department said Lord Irvine had issued strict guidelines to magistrate advisory committees for the appointment and conduct of JPs, which he said had directly led to the increase in the number of recommendations for dismissal. One-third of all the dismissals related to misconduct matters, he said.
One of the first magistrates dismissed by Lord Irvine for misconduct was Josie Lewis, who was photographed exposing her bottom in April 1997. She was told that "mooning" failed to uphold "the dignity, standing and good reputation" of the magistracy.
Ms Lewis, 45 at the time, had been collecting some property from stables at Woolton Bassett, Wiltshire, when she became involved in an argument with a man and dropped her breeches at him as she left. Unfortunately for Ms Lewis, the man had a camera with him.
In June last year, Judith Smith, another JP, was ordered to do 40 hours' community service and put on probation for a year after she had slashed the tyres on the car of her love rival, Margaret Dodds, and sent her poison pen letters. Smith, 46 at the time, was suspended from the bench at North Tyneside magistrates' court.
Janet Wilson-Ward, a bench chairman, ordered an adjournment and a retrial last month after fellow magistrate Michael Pearce fell asleep. The Lord Chancellor's Department said the regional advisory committee would be advising Lord Irvine as to whether Mr Pearce should be sacked.
A spokesman for the department said: "The Lord Chancellor was equally keen for magistrates to meet the minimum sitting requirements." Many of those recommended for dismissal had simply lost contact with their local bench, he said.
The number of magistrates leaving the bench is expected to increase over the next two years as all JPs have to meet new competency standards in a range of disciplines.
Vincent Cable, the Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham, who has campaigned for a tougher line on misconduct among the judiciary, welcomed the stricter approach to the magistracy. But, he said, "it's a shame he hasn't acted in the same way for dealing with the misconduct of judges. I would like him to come down just as hard on judges."
