Timothy Compton

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

Mr Timothy Compton, a senior barrister (38 years' call), faced three charges arising from his conduct at Southampton Magistrates' Court on 31 January 2023 while instructed for the Probation Service. The tribunal found on the balance of probabilities that he swore at and was offensive towards his client, probation officer Ms Butt, in front of colleagues (Charges 2 and 3), and made demeaning and inappropriate comments to probation officer Ms Steen, calling her \"decorative\" and stating she was looking at him \"like a fucking dirty pig\" (Charge 1). The tribunal preferred the corroborative evidence of three probation officers over Mr Compton's denials, finding his behaviour strange and inappropriate. All three charges were proved. No express finding of dishonesty was made. Given he had surrendered his practising certificate and intended not to practise again, a reprimand was imposed for each charge plus costs of £2,841.

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent had surrendered his practising certificate and had not worked for around two years
• Respondent stated he had no intention to work again as a barrister