Fresh disciplinary tribunal for sheriff accused of sexual harassment

Sheriff Jack Brown has been suspended on full pay since December 2018

A new disciplinary tribunal for an Aberdeen sheriff accused of sexual harassment is under way after a judge quashed a previous hearing's decision.

The first tribunal ruled Sheriff Jack Brown's conduct toward a woman known as X was "entirely inappropriate" but did not justify his removal from office.

X said evidence from two women making similar claims should have been heard.

Mr Brown has been suspended on full pay since the allegations came to light in 2018.

Judge Lord Woolman said the original tribunal had proceeded in "ignorance of the availability of other evidence".

The new tribunal was constituted in 2022 by then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the request of the Lord President.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: "Sheriff Jack Brown is subject to ongoing Fitness for Judicial Office Tribunal proceedings.

"Once the tribunal has made its decision, ministers will lay the tribunal's report before the Scottish Parliament in line with duties set out in the Court Reform (Scotland) Act 2014."

'Professional boundaries'

X, who is a lawyer, had raised judicial review proceedings to quash the decision of the original fitness for office tribunal, which was the first of its kind to be carried out in Scotland.

The fitness for judicial office tribunal issued its decision in March 2021.

It found that Mr Brown's behaviour had been "entirely inappropriate" and that he had "failed to respect proper professional boundaries".

X had alleged inappropriate and unwelcome physical contact towards her, including a claim that he touched her bottom.

The tribunal upheld one allegation, that Mr Brown had hugged X and made a remark towards her.

But it said the other allegations had not been established on the balance of probabilities.

Anonymity lifted

Mr Brown was arrested and charged in relation to the allegations in January 2019, but prosecutors dropped the case three months later.

He was appointed to the sheriffdom of Aberdeen in 2016.

Mr Brown set up his own legal practice in Dundee in 1996, and has been a sheriff since 2005.

An order granting his anonymity in the judicial review hearing was lifted following a successful challenge by BBC Scotland.

During the judicial review hearing, X's legal team said there was a "real possibility" that the tribunal's decision would have been different if the other women's evidence had been made available to it.

Mr Brown's lawyer argued that X's petition was "no more than an invitation to the court to allow the petitioner to 'have another go' on the entirely speculative basis that a different outcome might be possible".