A long-serving magistrate has been issued with formal advice for misconduct after failing to report that she had received a liability order for non-payment of council tax.
Brenda Bruce failed to notify her bench chair that civil proceedings had commenced against her and that she had received the liability order.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said: ‘Mrs Bruce explained that she had received a summons for payment of council tax for the full year for a property, which she had sold in April 2023. After requesting a revised bill, she received a liability order for the lesser amount, which she paid immediately. After contacting the council in July 2023, which could not find a record of the liability order, Mrs Bruce wrongly assumed that it had been withdrawn.’
Bruce had apologised. She said ‘there had been a lot going on in her personal life and that it had not been a deliberate attempt to mislead her bench chair’.
Following an investigation, a conduct panel of the South East Region Conduct Advisory Committee found that Bruce should have been aware of her duty to inform her bench chair of civil proceedings ‘given her long service as a magistrate’.
The panel also found Bruce ‘had not managed her financial affairs prudently’ but took into consideration her apology, her unblemished 20-year conduct record, and her personal mitigation.
The JCIO said the guide to judicial conduct states judicial office holders ‘are expected to display respect for the law and prudent management of financial affairs’.
It added: ‘Magistrates sign a declaration and undertaking on appointment. This includes making a commitment to report to their bench chair if they become personally involved in impending court proceedings.’
