Kathryn Hazlehurst

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

Kathryn Hazlehurst, a solicitor in the family team at Oldham MBC, was tasked with issuing an application to discharge an interim care order for child A but never made the application. Over an 18-month period (September 2020 to February 2022) she repeatedly provided false and misleading information to colleagues, including fabricating court hearing dates, and inputted false details (issue date, hearing date and a fictitious court case number) into a case list spreadsheet. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers by way of agreed outcome, accepted her admissions including dishonesty. With no exceptional circumstances, she was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,780.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Repeated dishonest conduct over a period of some 18 months
• Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Misleading multiple colleagues on numerous occasions
• Knew or ought to have known it breached obligations to protect the public and the reputation of the profession
• Breach of trust placed in her by Oldham MBC

Mitigating factors:

• Clean disciplinary record / previously unblemished career
• Admitted conduct to both Oldham MBC and the SRA
• Cooperation with the Applicant
• Poor health including vasculitis, IGA Nephropathy, kidney condition and diabetes
• Large caseload of 23 cases
• Close family member diagnosed with significant illness
• Emotional breakdown while handling a complex case during lockdown