Magistrate swore in court and told witness: ‘I am sick of seeing you, get out’
A magistrate has been issued a formal warning for misconduct after swearing in court and telling a witness, ‘I am sick of seeing you, get out.’
Jonathan Dannatt had an unblemished record of 17 years as a magistrate before his outburst.
The JP of the Staffordshire Bench said ‘this is sh*t’ after the bench had delivered its verdict in a case, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) found.
The witness was left feeling ‘shocked and embarrassed’ by the incident, the investigation was told.
Mr Dannatt said he had had concerns about how the sentence would impact the defendant and his family, and the reaction of the witness to this result.
He accepted saying ‘this is shit’ and asking the witness to leave in a way that could have seemed abrupt.
But said he had no memory of saying, ‘I am sick of seeing you, get out of here’, as claimed.
Mr Dannatt said he was ‘horrified that he had behaved in this way’, and was ‘profoundly sorry and would ensure it never happened again’.
The JCIO ruled that Mr Dannatt said ‘this is sh*t’ and told the witness to ‘get out’, which amounted to serious misconduct.
‘Mr Dannatt’s language and behaviour significantly breached the expected standards of conduct,’ the disciplinary statement said.
“The risk of reputational damage to the magistracy was significant and the witness experienced emotional distress.’
A spokesman for the JCIO said: ‘Mr Justice Keehan, on behalf of the Lady Chief Justice and with the Lord Chancellor’s agreement, has issued Mr Jonathan Dannatt JP of the Staffordshire Bench with a formal warning for misconduct.’
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