A magistrate who used his status to intervene in a contractual dispute as he believed the company was seeking an ‘unduly harsh’ remedy has been issued with a formal warning for misconduct.
A company complained that Alistair Borland had intervened in a contractual dispute between it and a former tenant and had made ‘a number of inappropriate express and implied references to his position as a magistrate’.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) said Borland apologised and accepted he had done so and his conduct may have breached his declaration and undertaking as a magistrate. Borland said his intervention ‘was in a context where he believed the tenant had difficult personal circumstances and the remedy being sought by the company was unduly harsh’.
A spokesperson for the JCIO said: ‘The declaration and undertaking signed by all magistrates on their appointment states that they will agree to be circumspect in their conduct and maintain the good reputation of the magistracy at all times, in their private, working, and public lives.
‘Additionally, guidance for magistrates advises that great care should be taken to avoid personal reference to their position as a magistrate in circumstances where it could be perceived as an attempt to influence or gain advantage.’
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Taking into account Borland’s ‘immediate acceptance of the fact, his apology [and] his previous unblemished conduct record, Mr Justice Keehan, on behalf of the lady chief justice and the lord chancellor, issued Borland with a formal warning for misconduct.
The JCIO added: ‘His actions had seriously risked undermining public confidence in his impartiality and had reputational implications for the magistracy.’
