Defence lawyers complain after spotting Britain First petition on government solicitor’s feed
A senior prosecutor has reportedly been referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) over far-right posts on her Facebook feed.
Concerned criminal lawyers sounded the alarm about Kim Kendall, a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) solicitor in the north of England, after seeing a link from far-right group Britain First on her Facebook page, the Guardian reports.
Two criminal defence solicitors say that the posts call Kendall’s neutrality into question and have called for her employer and her professional regulator to get involved.
The contentious material includes a Britain First petition to remove the statue of the “terrorist” Nelson Mandela from Parliament Square and criticism of the Black Lives Matter protests, the newspaper says, with screenshots to boot.
Attiq Malik, a solicitor-advocate who has appeared on Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody, told the newspaper that “as a campaigning lawyer against racism it is extremely concerning to learn that there are those in our profession who have Britain First posts appearing on their Facebook page”.
Kendall qualified as a solicitor in 2003 and works at the CPS office in Hull, according to the Law Society’s online database.
An SRA spokesperson told Legal Cheek that the organisation could neither “confirm or deny” whether it had received a complaint.
The code of conduct for prosecutors reminds CPS employees that posts on social networks, such as Facebook and (adorably) MySpace, are “open to public viewing and scrutiny”. It also says that “employees must not compromise their political neutrality”, although more in the context of “political activity” than the expression of opinion.
A CPS spokesperson said: “Impartiality and fairness are central CPS values and these are underpinned by a clear code of conduct. Any allegations of inappropriate behaviour are taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly”. Legal Cheek has also attempted to contact Kendall directly for comment.
