JP is spared jail

A magistrate who signed an application for a false passport that later turned up in a murder inquiry has escaped jail.

Lyeton Grant, 65, signed the form for a "Paul Hackett" claiming he had known him for 10 years, and endorsing the attached photo as "a true likeness".

But when confronted by police, Grant could not identify the man in the photo.

At Southwark Crown Court, Grant, a JP since 1987, admitted making an untrue statement to obtain a passport in December 2001. He was sentenced to 120 hours community service and ordered to pay £800 costs. A second similar charge, which he had denied, was left on the file.

Grant, from Catford, resigned as a JP and was sacked from his job at Group 4 security. In the application Grant stated he knew "Paul Hackett" as a nephew of a family associate. The true identity was Barrington Harris from Jamaica.

A year later police investigating a murder came across the passport and went to see Grant, who eventually said he only knew the applicant as "no 8" in his son's football team and he had not checked his identity before signing the form.

Judge Paul Dodgson said if there had been evidence Grant knew the application was false he would have been jailed.