Jon Holbrook

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

Appeal by barrister Jon Holbrook against an Independent Decision-making Panel (IDP) decision that found a breach of CD5 in respect of one tweet (tweet 14, posted 17 October 2020) and imposed a warning and a £500 fine. The appeal was a review, not a re-hearing, heard on 26 November 2021. The Panel rejected Ground 1 (discrimination/Equality Act), finding the protected belief was not the reason for the sanction. It allowed the appeal on Grounds 2 and 3(a), holding the IDP erred in law on the threshold for a CD5 breach by treating CD5 as breached simply by political speech that caused offence. Grounds 3(b), 3(c) (natural justice) and 4 (Article 6 fair trial) were rejected. No express finding of dishonesty was made.