Timothy Compton

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

Timothy Compton, a very senior barrister (38 years' call), faced three charges arising from his conduct at Southampton Magistrates' Court on 31 January 2023 while instructed on behalf of the Probation Service. The Tribunal found on the balance of probabilities that he swore at and was offensive towards his client Ms Butt in front of colleagues (Charges 2 and 3, breaching CD5 and CD7), and made demeaning/inappropriate comments to probation officer Ms Steen, calling her 'decorative' and referencing her looking at him 'like a fucking dirty pig' (Charge 1, breaching CD5). The Tribunal preferred the corroborative evidence of three probation officers over Mr Compton's account, finding his behaviour strange and inappropriate. All charges were proved. No express finding of dishonesty was made. Given he had surrendered his practising certificate and intended not to practise again, the Tribunal imposed a reprimand on each charge and ordered costs of £2,841.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Competence
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Mitigating factors:

• Surrendered practising certificate and has not worked for a couple of years
• Stated no intention to work again as a barrister