Duncan Peter Burtwell

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Duncan Peter Burtwell, a consultant solicitor, admitted failing to disclose a warrant in his possession to instructed counsel, the defendant and the court in Client A's claim against Hampshire Constabulary, and signing two misleading witness statements (21 June 2019 and 29 November 2019). He admitted dishonesty. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers by agreed outcome, found the admissions properly made and that there were no exceptional circumstances justifying a lesser sanction. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £15,000.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• Not mislead the court

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was dishonest
• Conduct spanned several months and was not momentary
• Misleading the court, which struck at the heart of public expectations of a solicitor
• Initially sought to minimise wrongdoing and justify failure in early draft statements

Mitigating factors:

• Self-referral and ultimate admissions
• No previous regulatory history
• Client's claim frustrated by Defendant's litigation tactics affecting publicly funded client
• Lack of formal training/supervision in civil disclosure obligations; effectively self-taught civil litigator
• Worked remotely and isolated; personal pressures as sole carer of three children; likely depressed at the time
• Full acceptance of responsibility