Unfit for office, sheriff accused of being sex pest
He was paid £1m to sit at home during 6-year saga
A SHERIFF who has been suspended on full pay for six years over alleged sexual harassment – at a cost of nearly £1million – has been found unfit for office.
Jack Brown, 64, kept his job after a judge ruled a tribunal failed to consider evidence from other alleged victims – so a second tribunal was ordered in February 2022.
It has emerged the fitness for judicial office tribunal, convened by Nicola Sturgeon, had found Brown is unfit for judicial office.
The tribunal said there were ‘serious concerns as to the character and integrity’ of the Aberdeen sheriff which are ‘wholly contrary to the standards of conduct and probity expected’ of the judiciary.
The report has been submitted to Holyrood and Humza Yousaf – who received the tribunal’s findings on March 28 – is now considering Brown’s removal from the bench.
Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay said it was ‘unfair to all involved, but especially the female complainers, that this saga’ had taken six years.
He added: ‘Lessons must be learned to improve the handling of future complaints.’ Brown was charged in relation to the allegations in January 2019 – but prosecutors dropped the case three months later.
He had been suspended on full pay in December 2018 and his salary is £157,705 – meaning he has been paid nearly £950,000 for staying at home.
The tribunal said Brown’s behaviour towards two women amounted to ‘serious improper conduct’. It found that he had acted inappropriately towards a lawyer, known as D, in 2018 and another woman in 2001 or 2002.
D’s solicitor told BBC Scotland News: ‘She is relieved that this process is finally over.’
An earlier tribunal found that Brown had acted ‘entirely inappropriately’ towards D. However, it concluded his conduct did not meet the test to justify removing him from office
A judicial review subsequently ruled the original tribunal had proceeded in ‘ignorance of the availability of other evidence’.
D said evidence from two other women making similar claims should have been allowed at the tribunal in 2021.
The fresh tribunal heard evidence from the two other women, known as B and C. It established that in 2018 Brown touched D on the cheek and made an inappropriate remark.
It also found that he hugged her inappropriately, and that Brown kissed C on the lips in late 2001 or early 2002, and squeezed her buttocks in 2004.
Tribunal chair Lord Malcolm said: ‘In our unanimous view [Brown’s] misbehaviour renders him unfit for judicial office.’
A spokesman for the Judicial Office for Scotland said: ‘It is clear the sheriff’s conduct was completely unacceptable.’
‘Completely unacceptable’