The Shadow Attorney General has written to the Chair of the Bar Standards Board to request an investigation to determine whether Robert Colover may have violated the Bar Standards Board’s code of conduct.

Labour MP Emily Thornberry, who worked as a human rights barrister before she was elected, wrote:

I am writing to express my concern that barrister Robert Colover may have violated the Bar Standards Board’s code of conduct when representing the Crown in the sentencing of Neil Wilson for sexual activity with a child on Monday 5th August 2013 at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

The Crown Prosecution Service has acknowledged that the language was “inappropriate”.

I would go further than that and suggest that it has brought the profession into disrepute and could deter vulnerable victims from coming forward in future.

 

Prosecutor Robert Colover told judge Nigel Peters:

The girl is predatory in all her actions and she is sexually experienced.

She appeared to look around 14 or 15 and had the mental age of a 14 or 15 year old despite being younger than that.

There was sexual activity but it was not of Mr Wilson’s doing, you might say it was forced upon him despite being older and stronger than her.

– ROBERT COLOVER

Neil Wilson admitted engaging in sexual activity with a child. He was handed a eight-month suspended sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Police also found images of child abuse and bestiality at Wilson’s home in Romford, Essex