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UK: New DPP convicted and fined for drugs possession Richard Ford The Times Thursday 14 Aug 2003 THE new Director of Public Prosecutions has convictions for possessing drugs and for speeding, the Government disclosed last night. Ken Macdonald, QC, a founding member of Cherie Booth's law chambers, was found guilty of cannabis offences while a student at Oxford. Mr Macdonald, a father of three, was convicted of sending a drug to a friend in his first year at St Edmund Hall in 1971. He was fined £25 at Oxford Magistrates' Court for possession of a dangerous drug and fined a further £50 plus £5 costs for procuring a dangerous drug. A statement issued from the Attorney-General's chambers last night confirmed the convictions less than a week after the appointment of Mr Macdonald, 50, had been announced. It said: "The offences occurred when he sent 25p worth of cannabis through the post to a friend. The amount involved was 0.1g." Mr Macdonald, who studied PPE at Oxford before studying law, pleaded guilty in December 1971. In February 2001, he was caught doing 60mph in a 50mph zone and fined £60. He also received three points on his licence. Last night's statement said that the convictions had been disclosed at the time he was appointed to succeed David Calvert Smith, QC, as the £145,000-a-year Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the Crown Prosecution Service. It added that the conviction had been declared when Mr Macdonald applied to join the Bar in 1978 and when he applied to become a QC. It had also been revealed when he was appointed a part-time judge in 2001. "It was no bar to any of these appointments," the statement added. The disclosure comes after controversy over his appointment because he was a founding member of Matrix chambers where Cherie Booth, QC, works. Mr Madonald also has limited experience in prosecution work but has a formidable reputation as a defence barrister. Last night's revelation that the DPP has criminal convictions is the latest in a series of embarrassments to hit holders of the ancient office. In October 1991, Sir Allan Green quit the post after being caught kerb crawling in the King's Cross red light district. Danny Kushlick, director of Transform drug policy, said of the cannabis conviction: "The amount is a crumb. It is microscopic."
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