Timothy Raggatt

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

Timothy Raggatt QC, leading prosecution counsel in the prosecution of Conrad Jones for perverting the course of justice, failed to disclose or make a PII application regarding sensitive surveillance material showing that a key alleged meeting between the accused and the witness could not (or could barely) have taken place. The Tribunal found Charges 2 (conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice) and 5 (failure to assist the court) proven to the criminal standard; Charge 4 (recklessly misleading the court) was dismissed as the Panel accepted the sensitive material was not in his mind at the relevant time. The non-disclosure led to an unfair trial and a miscarriage of justice (12-year sentence, 6 years served, conviction quashed on appeal). No express finding of dishonesty was made; the BSB did not allege bad faith and accepted the conduct was not malign. He was suspended for 12 months (Charge 2) and 3 months (Charge 5) concurrently, and ordered to pay agreed costs of £18,600 to the BSB.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Lack of remorse
• Lack of insight shown by a barrister with a high level of experience
• Throughout sought to justify his conduct and even to minimise the miscarriage of justice which resulted
• Course of conduct with failure to disclose occurring repeatedly, prior to and during three trials
• Leading role as leader of the prosecution team

Mitigating factors:

• Co-operation with the investigation, including providing substantial documentation to the BSB
• Misconduct unlikely to be repeated
• Good character and highly exceptional character references from senior members of the judiciary and profession
• No previous disciplinary findings
• Lengthy period of time between events, complaint and hearing