Judge defends Carine Patry Hoskins over relationship with David Sherborne, who acted for phone-hacking victims
Lord Justice Leveson has cleared the junior counsel to his inquiry over suggestions she compromised its impartiality by conducting a relationship with the lead barrister for victims of press intrusion.
The senior judge intervened on Tuesday by defending Carine Patry Hoskins over her relationship with David Sherborne, the barrister for Hugh Grant and other phone-hacking victims.
In a letter to the Conservative MP, Rob Wilson, Leveson said: "There was simply no room for a 'breach of confidence or other conspiracy' as a result of personal relations between her and Mr Sherborne."
He added that it was for the Bar Standards Board to decide whether to take any action against Patry Hoskins – but maintained she did not influence his report making proposals on the future regulation of the press, which was published in November last year.
"She had absolutely no input into any conclusion as to the past treatment of those affected by press abuses (or, indeed, the relationship between the press and the public as considered by module one of the inquiry) or any aspect of the proposals made for future press regulation," Leveson said in his letter. "She was simply not involved in any of this work."
The judge said that Patry Hoskins proof read the report in the final few days before publication, but that "she did not see and was not involved in any discussions about any of the other sections of the report or, indeed, in any of my eventual recommendations".
His rare public intervention comes three days after the Mail on Sunday reported that Patry Hoskins and Sherborne were in a relationship. The pair have said that their relationship only started after the Leveson report was published in November.
However, according to the Mail on Sunday, the pair flew to the Greek island of Santorini days for a holiday together after the inquiry's public hearings had concluded in July last year.
Patry Hoskins and Sherborne told friends that they went on holiday to Santorini only to "discuss the possibility of a future relationship".
In a statement last week, the inquiry's lead counsel, Robert Jay QC, said he had been told the relationship on 18 March, but the Santorini trip "has only been mentioned this week".
A spokesman for the Bar Standards Board declined to say whether it has launched an investigation into the allegations of impropriety around the relationship, but said it was aware of the press reports.
The regulator does not prohibit relationships between barristers, but warns that they can be in breach of the code of conduct if they "compromise their professional independence", create a possible conflict of interest, or otherwise bring the legal profession into disrepute.
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