Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons v Samuel

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
JudgeLord Toulson
Judgment Date16 April 2014
Neutral Citation[2014] UKPC 13
Docket NumberAppeal No 0030 of 2013
Date16 April 2014
CourtPrivy Council

[2014] UKPC 13

Privy Council

before

Lord Clarke

Lord Toulson

Lord Hodge

Appeal No 0030 of 2013

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
(Respondent)
and
Samuel
(Appellant)

Appellant

Jeffrey Jupp

(Instructed by Howells LLP)

Respondent

Alison Foster QC

(Instructed by Penningtons Manches LLP)

Heard on 26 March 2014

Lord Toulson
Introduction
1

Dr Gary Samuel is a registered veterinary surgeon with a practice in Leeds. He also owns a property at 7 Corporation Road, Cardiff, which is let to tenants. On 10 July 2011 an incident happened between Dr Samuel and the next door neighbours, Ms Heather Jackson and Mr Hamish Harvey, which resulted in Dr Samuel pleading guilty at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on 22 November 2011 to three offences – theft of a camera and memory card (contrary to sections 1 and 7 of the Theft Act 1968), common assault on Ms Jackson (contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988) and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards Ms Jackson and Mr Harvey (contrary to section 4 of the Public Order Act 1986). He was sentenced to concurrent terms of 28 days' imprisonment for theft and common assault and 12 weeks' imprisonment for the public order offence, all suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to carry out 140 hours' unpaid work and to pay £75 compensation to Ms Jackson and to pay costs of £625 to the Crown Prosecution Service.

2

On 18 June 2012 the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons gave notice to Dr Samuel that his case had been referred to the Disciplinary Committee and that an inquiry would be held to consider a charge that his convictions rendered him unfit to practise veterinary surgery.

3

The hearing was on 18 February 2013 and the Committee found Dr Samuel unfit to practise. On the following day it considered the question of sanction and directed that his name be removed from the register. Dr Samuel appeals against both the finding of unfitness to practise and the sanction imposed.

Disciplinary Regime
4

Section 16 (1)(a) of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 provides that if a registered veterinary surgeon is convicted in the United Kingdom or elsewhere of a criminal offence which, in the opinion of the Disciplinary Committee, renders him unfit to practise veterinary surgery, the Committee may, if they think fit, direct that his name shall be removed from the register.

5

The current rules governing the procedure before the Disciplinary Committee are set out in the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Practitioners (Disciplinary Committee) (Procedure and Evidence) Rules Order in Council 2004 ( SI 2004/1680), made under paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to the 1966 Act. Rules 11.1(b) and 12.3 provide that in a conviction case the College may adduce evidence to show that the nature and circumstances of the offence are such as to render the respondent unfit to practise veterinary surgery; and the practitioner may likewise adduce evidence regarding the nature and circumstances of the offence to show that he is not unfit to practise veterinary surgery.

6

In Kirk v Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons [2004] UKPC 4 the Board considered the combined effect of materially identical provisions in the 1967 Rules ( SI 1967/659) and section 16 of the Act. Lord Hoffmann said, at para 8:

"Thus both the College and the practitioner may adduce evidence about the underlying facts upon which the conviction is based, provided that the facts which such evidence is relevant to prove are not inconsistent with the finding that the respondent was guilty of the offence. What the practitioner cannot do is to re-litigate the conviction before the Committee."

7

Rule 23.6 provides that (subject to an immaterial exception):

"any charge which may result in a direction by the Committee that a respondent be removed from the register, shall be proved so that the Committee is satisfied to the highest civil standard of proof; so that it is sure."

The wording of this rule is confusing, particularly in view of the decision of the House of Lords in In re B (Children) (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) (CAFCASS intervening) [2008] UKHL 35, [2009] 1 AC11, that the civil standard of proof is in all cases on the balance of probabilities, although that was not universally understood at the time when the rule was drafted. The phrase "is satisfied … so that it is sure" is the standard form of wording used to direct juries in criminal cases, and Ms Foster on behalf of the College properly accepted that the Rule is intended to require the same standard of proof as in a criminal case.

8

For a conviction to render a person unfit to practise veterinary surgery it need not necessarily relate to conduct in his professional practice.

9

In Roylance v General Medical Council (No 2) [2000] 1 AC 311 the Board considered the meaning of "serious professional misconduct" in the case of a medical practitioner. It recognised that behaviour remote from the carrying on of a professional practice may be sufficiently disgraceful to constitute serious professional misconduct. In deciding whether it does, a matter of particular concern is the potential damage caused by the person's conduct to the public reputation of the profession. The same may be said in relation to conduct of a veterinary surgeon which involves the commission of a criminal offence. If allowing the person's name to remain on the register would prejudice the reputation of the profession in the eyes of ordinary members of the public and harm their confidence in it, the Disciplinary Committee is entitled to conclude that a charge of unfitness to practise is made out.

Hearing before the Disciplinary Committee
10

At the disciplinary hearing the College was represented by counsel (not Ms Foster). Dr Samuel represented himself. The Committee had been provided in advance with an inquiry bundle which contained the prosecution's evidence in the criminal proceedings, a victim impact statement from Ms Jackson, the Memorandum of Conviction, the notification of disciplinary proceedings given to Dr Samuel and his response in a letter dated 23 January 2012. Shortly before the hearing Dr Samuel supplemented his written response with witness statement by himself and by another person who did not give oral evidence.

11

Counsel for the College outlined the case as it appeared from the prosecution witness statements. According to them, Ms Jackson and Mr Harvey returned home during the evening of Sunday 10 July to find that builders had entered their back garden to prepare for work on a construction at the back of Dr Samuel's property. They had previously asked the builders not to come onto their property.

12

Fed up with being ignored, Ms Jackson decided to take photographs to use as evidence. She walked into a lane at the rear of her property and took some pictures on her digital camera. As she was walking away, she was approached by Dr Samuel who was shouting at her not to take his photo. She replied that what he was doing was against the law and that he should have planning permission.

13

According to Ms Jackson's account, she walked away but Dr Samuel grabbed her from behind. He twisted her right arm and she released her camera. He took the camera and put it in his pocket saying that she was very lucky and telling her not to do anything like that again. She asked for the return of the camera but he refused. Dr Samuel then walked away. She followed him asking for her camera but he shouted abuse at her. She then shouted "Call the police".

14

At this point Mr Harvey arrived. Dr Samuel was standing in the doorway of the structure at the back of his house with a large piece of wood in his hand. Ms Jackson said that it had a nail on the top of it. Dr Samuel held it up, waved it at Mr Harvey who was only a few feet away, and shouted words to the effect "Do you want me to attack you?" Mr Harvey telephoned 999 and asked for the police. Dr Samuel retired to his house. A few minutes later a neighbour appeared and gave Ms Jackson her camera but the memory card was missing.

15

That was the prosecution's version. The police arrived and arrested Dr Samuel. At the police station he was searched and the memory card from the camera was found in his possession. He was interviewed. His account was that there had been ill-feeling between himself and his neighbours for several years. Ms Jackson had constantly harassed him when he had been doing work on his property. On the evening of the incident there was a dispute between them about what he was doing. He denied that he or the people working for him had been over the fence or intruded on Ms Jackson's land. When she started taking photographs of him he objected and asked her to erase them. She removed the SD card, waved it and said "This is my evidence you black bastard". At that point he lost his self-control and snatched it from her. He had a hammer in his hand but denied threatening anybody.

16

In his letter to the College in response to the notification of the disciplinary proceedings Dr Samuel repeated his account of having been provoked by racial abuse. He concluded by saying, "I am not happy regarding my actions and I have expressed regret, but I however do not think this episode affects my ability to work as a Vet Surgeon."

17

After the College's counsel had opened the case, Dr Samuel gave evidence and read out his witness statement as his evidence in chief. In it he explained his pleas of guilty by saying that he accepted that the snatching of...

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6 cases
  • Schulze Allen v Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
    • United Kingdom
    • Privy Council
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    ...law are questions of fact. Mr Hare also accepts, following the decision of the Board in Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons v Samuel [2014] UKPC 13, that the standard of proof to be applied is “the same standard of proof as in a criminal case”. Thus, for the first, third and fourth charges......
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    • Queen's Bench Division
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    ...that he picked up the softball bat as a deterrent or for self-defence. Second, the Committee was advised that the case of Samuel v RCVS [2014] UKPC 13 was authority for the proposition that the context and events leading to the offending behaviour should be considered in assessing whether ......
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