A magistrate on the supplemental list has been issued with formal advice after using the JP suffix in a letter to The Times.
Accoring to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, Charles Peck wrote a letter, entitled ‘Bring Begum home’, alluding to the legal situtation of Shamima Begum who had been stripped of UK citizenship. His JP suffix appeared in the signature. The letter was published in The Times in February last year and a complaint was made.
Peck accepted responsibility for the letter but said he ‘considered that it was appropriate to use his JP suffix in this specific case and that he was acting in accordance with his judicial oath, to do right by all manner of people, by calling out an issue’.
When magistrates retire they are automatically placed on the supplemental list. Though they have no judicial powers, they are entitled to refer to themselves as a JP and they are subject to the same expectations as serving magistrates.
A spokesperson for the JCIO said: ‘He did not accept that his views could have been perceived as critical of the government or the judiciary or that it had the potential to damage the reputation of the magistracy.’
A conduct panel found that Peck, in commenting on a highly sensitive issue which he felt passionately about, ‘should have been aware of the perception using the JP suffix could inadvertently create’.
The JCIO added: ‘The panel decided that Mr Peck’s actions lacked circumspection and amounted to misconduct. The panel was concerned that Mr Peck had reserved the right to use his JP suffix on any future letter, if he felt that justice required it.’ Peck’s ‘unblemished record’ was taken into consideration.
