Barry Harwood

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

Barrister Barry John Harwood was found guilty of five charges of professional misconduct arising from three false allegations he made to the BSB against SF (his line manager), concerning homophobia (use of 'husband'), a racial nickname regarding AN, and comments about the 9/11 attacks regarding DT. The Tribunal found each allegation was known by Harwood to be false and applied the Ivey test to find dishonesty (Charge 1 proven; alternative Charge 2 not needed). Proceeding in his absence, the Tribunal ordered disbarment, finding no exceptional circumstances, plus costs of £5,544 and an order under rE227.3 barring issue of a practising certificate pending appeal.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Honesty
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate and sustained dishonest conduct
• Harmful to all concerned, in particular the main target SF, and upsetting to VBS, AN and DT
• No evidence of remorse or insight, suggesting risk of repetition could not be ignored

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary record
• Some evidence of positive contributions to the profession and community