John Stenhouse

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

Mr John Alexander Stenhouse, a barrister, was found guilty of professional misconduct contrary to Core Duty 5 for emails sent to the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) during his own tax appeal. Charge 1(a) (baseless allegations that a tribunal caseworker and HMRC officer secretly conspired) and Charge 1(b) (baseless allegation that the FTT President covered up the alleged misconduct, expressed in rude/insulting terms) were proved. Charges 1(c) and 1(d) were not proved. The Tribunal expressly found no breach of rC8 (integrity) and made no finding of dishonesty. His recusal, abuse of process, and standard of proof arguments were rejected. The Tribunal imposed fines of £7,500 on each proved charge (£15,000 total) and ordered him to pay costs of £8,049.48; his own costs application was dismissed.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Lack of remorse
• Lack of insight
• Risk of repetition
• Misconduct towards a member of court staff (Charge 1(a))
• Misconduct towards the President of the Tax Tribunal (Charge 1(b))
• Misconduct by a very experienced barrister
• Course of misconduct, recklessness, foreseeable harm

Mitigating factors:

• Good character
• No previous disciplinary findings