Law Weblog

Sir Mark Potter – and the Office for Judicial Complaints

Monday 17 November 2008 at 8:16 am | In News | 1 Comment Sir Mark Potter, head of the Family Division is facing trouble again. He wrote a reference for a barrister friend, who stood trial last year accused of perverting the course of justice. Bruce Hyman was sentenced to 12 months in jail for attempting to pervert the course of justice, the first barrister in history to do so.
Potter had intended the reference to be given to the sentencing judge. Judges are allowed to give character references, but the complaint against Potter is that it was written on his official stationery and bore his name and title.
A previous complaint last year was dismissed, the OJC decided there had been no breach of guidelines, Potter gave the reference in his personal, not judicial, capacity.
But it has now emerged that the OJC was not aware of the original character reference written on Potter’s official stationery.

News story here