H R Wotherspoon

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

The Respondent, a solicitor, was convicted at Carlisle Crown Court in August 2012 of sexual assault on a female (touching a woman's leg on an overnight bus) and sentenced to a three-year community order with supervision, an accredited sex offender programme, 5 years on the sex offenders' register, £1,000 compensation and £2,500 prosecution costs. The SRA alleged breach of Principle 6. The Respondent admitted the allegation, which the Tribunal found proved beyond reasonable doubt. The Tribunal expressly noted there was no suggestion of dishonesty, but the conduct was dishonourable. Given his lack of insight and remorse, the Tribunal considered the misconduct on the cusp of striking off but, with reluctance, imposed an indefinite suspension and ordered costs of £1,841.80.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct involved commission of a criminal offence
• Conduct was deliberate; no reason to assume attentions were welcome and chose not to ask
• Victim was vulnerable, restricted in a night bus inside seat
• Took advantage of a vulnerable person
• Ought reasonably to have known behaviour breached obligation to protect reputation of the profession
• Lack of insight and no genuine remorse; attempted to blame the victim
• Denied the charge, requiring the victim to give evidence at trial
• Did not admit the allegation until the morning of the hearing
• Considerable and lurid press publicity identifying him as a solicitor, damaging the profession's reputation

Mitigating factors:

• Paid the £1,000 compensation ordered by the Crown Court
• Expressed some remorse in his letter of 1 April 2013
• Single episode of misconduct in a previously unblemished career
• Positive references from former employers
• Cooperated and engaged with the SRA and Tribunal
• Offence occurred outside his professional practice