A magistrate who said she was ‘merely rebutting untruths’ on two separate Facebook groups has been issued with formal advice for misconduct.
Catherine Burns engaged in conversations on two separate Facebook groups regarding the deselection of a local parliamentary candidate ahead of the last general election.
A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said Burns’ comments resulted in criticism from other contributors after ‘she appeared to repeatedly suggest that there was more to the deselection than was in the public domain’.
Burns confirmed she had made the posts in a private capacity which did not mention her being a magistrate and had since left the Facebook groups.
The JCIO said: ‘She explained that she took part in a good faith, political discussion and was merely rebutting untruths. She considered that the criticism of her was from a small angry group and not representative of the local community and therefore unreasonable.’
An investigation found that ‘by speculating in a series of posts to a large group of people as to the reasons for the deselection of a parliamentary candidate, Ms Burns had failed to act with circumspection’.
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Finding Burns had breached the expected standard of conduct for a magistrate, the investigation concluded that other contributors to the Facebook groups had interpreted her posts as ‘an insinuation that there was more than in the public domain, which impugned, without any substance, the standing of the candidate’.
Taking into consideration Burns had not mentioned her judicial status and, as a newly appointed magistrate, had not undertaken the induction training required when the comments were made, Mr Justice Keehan, on behalf of the lady chief justice, issued her with formal advice for misconduct.
