Eoin William Maccarthy

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

The Respondent, a Senior Crown Prosecutor, was convicted of fraud in August 2017 for dishonestly claiming travel expenses for journeys he did not undertake. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. Before the Tribunal he admitted breaching Principles 1, 2 and 6 and admitted dishonesty. The conviction involved admitted dishonesty. The Tribunal found the allegations proved and, given the seriousness, ordered that he be struck off the Roll and pay costs of £1,600.

Duties found breached:

• No abuse of process or coercive powers
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Commission of a criminal offence involving admitted dishonesty
• Motivated by monetary gain
• Actions were planned
• Abused trust placed in him by employer
• Role as a prosecutor made misconduct more serious
• Hugely experienced lawyer with over 20 years at the CPS

Mitigating factors:

• Self-reported to the SRA
• Made full admissions at earliest opportunity to Court and in proceedings
• Displayed genuine insight
• Co-operated fully with the regulator
• Offence unsophisticated and easily discovered
• Remorseful; conviction had serious personal consequences