Matthew Feargrieve

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

Mr Matthew Feargrieve, an unregistered barrister, was found to have committed professional misconduct contrary to Core Duty 5 after being convicted in December 2019 of common assault by beating following a confrontation over a seat at the Royal Opera House in October 2018. He was fined £900 by the criminal court. The Tribunal, sitting in his absence (he was found voluntarily absent), found the charge proved beyond reasonable doubt based on the memorandum of conviction. The misconduct was placed in the middle range with significant culpability and limited harm. The Tribunal ordered that the BSB not issue him a practising certificate for 12 months and ordered payment of £1,560 in costs. No dishonesty was found.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Assault committed in a public place involving violence to a third party
• Some harm caused to the victim
• Failure to cooperate with the disciplinary process
• No apology, insight or remorse shown

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings