A STANFORD-le-Hope man will be able to continue his career in the law profession despite being convicted of using his mobile phone to take pictures up a woman's skirt for sexual gratification.

Daren Timson-Hunt, 54, a father of one from Broadstone Road, was convicted in September after admitting his phone to take illicit pictures of a woman on an underground train.

His actions were spotted by a police officer whose evidence brought Timson-Hunt before Westminster Magistrates' Court where he escaped the maximum sentence of a two year jail sentence.

The former senior government lawyer was then brought before a Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service hearing in November, which announced its findings this week.

The tribunal accepted his argument that it was a "heat of the moment" decision as a result of work pressure and rather than being barred, he has been suspended for six months.

The Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service held the hearing on November 23, and the decision was published on Monday.

It read: "Daren Timson-Hunt behaved in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in a barrister or in the profession.

"On 1 July 2019 he operated a mobile phone beneath the clothing of another person with the intention of enabling him to observe the genitals or buttocks of the other person in circumstances where they would not otherwise be visible, for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification.

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"He was convicted for this conduct at Westminster Magistrates Court on 26 September 2019 and was sentenced to a 24 month community order, including 60 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay a surcharge of £90 to fund victim services and costs of £85."

The full tribunal verdict can be found here