Magistrate sacked for failing to understand legal adviser’s role

A lay magistrate has been sacked for his conduct during proceedings, which included showing a failure to understand the role of a legal adviser.

In a statement on its website, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) said David Lynds, who was assigned to the East Kent Local Justice Area, was removed from office following an investigation into his conduct.

The JCIO said that, during a sitting, Lynds failed to understand the role of the legal adviser and failed to communicate with his bench colleagues and the legal adviser ‘in an appropriate manner’.

Court legal advisers are legally trained people who give advice to magistrates.

The statement adds that the lord chancellor and lord chief justice also found that the way Lynds ‘introduced and subsequently withdrew evidence in the course of these proceedings and the inconsistency of his account in this respect’ failed to demonstrate the qualities required of a magistrate.

‘The lord chancellor and lord chief justice considered therefore that Mr Lynds failed to demonstrate the standard expected of a judicial office holder and have therefore removed him from office,’ the JCIO said.

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Magistrate sacked for failing to understand legal adviser’s role