By Lucy Caulkett-
A senior prosecutor who shared social media posts from far right activists has been reprimanded following an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and ordered to pay £600 costs.
Kim Kendall, who worked for the Crown Prosecution Service from its Hull office, posted the message during the heights of the pandemic, but is still believed to be in her job.
Kendall reportedly shared a link on her Facebook page to a petition from the group Britain First calling for the statue of Nelson Mandela to be ‘torn down’. The petition was shared on the Facebook page of Kim Kendall, a senior lawyer at the Yorkshire and Humberside CPS. It accused Mandela of being “a communist and terrorist mass murderer”, who should be “consigned to the dustbin of history”. ’
Other posts which appeared on Kendell’s timeline and referred for investigation include one originally posted by another Facebook user about the murder of the soldier Lee Rigby, saying: “I don’t remember the UK rioting after 2 black immigrants hacked to death a white British soldier in broad daylight … Just saying!”
Also, at the top of Kendall’s Facebook page was a March 2018 change.org petition calling for Asian Labour MP Naz Shah “to resign or be sacked”.
The matter was referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority(SRA).
The CPS Code of Conduct imposes a duty on employees not to post statements on Facebook or other social media which contravenes their obligations. “Employees must not compromise their political neutrality,” the code adds.
In a decision notice published on Tuesday by the SRA, the regulator stated that Kendall had be found to have ‘shared inappropriate social media posts on her social media account which caused offence to others and undermined the trust placed in her and in the provision of legal services and did not encourage equality, diversity or inclusion’.
The SRA also found that Kendall had failed to act in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession. She was issued with a rebuke and ordered to pay costs of £600.
It was reported last year that two solicitors had made complaints relating to Kendall’s social media activity