The ACT’s former top prosecutor has successfully challenged findings laid out in an inquiry on Bruce Lehrmann’s trial.

The conduct of a former judge who headed an inquiry into Lehrmann’s rape trial gave rise to “a reasonable intention of bias”, a court has ruled.

In 2023, former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff was asked to examine the role of police and prosecutors in relation to the high-profile trial.

Though the inquiry’s final report vindicated investigating officers, it found then-director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold had engaged in malpractice and unethical conduct.

Drumgold launched legal action in August to invalidate the adverse findings against him. His lawyers claimed Sofronoff’s communications with The Australian‘s columnist Janet Albrechsten had “infected” him with bias.

On Monday, Justice Stephen Kaye noted that Sofronoff’s behaviour “gave rise to a reasonable intention of bias”.

“The communications that took place … was such that a fair-minded observer might reasonably have apprehended that [Sofronoff] might have been influenced by the views held and publicly expressed by Ms Albrechtsen,” Kaye said in the ACT Supreme Court.

Kaye upheld seven of the eight inquiry findings that Drumgold disagreed with, but said its accusation that the prosecutor had engaged in “grossly unethical conduct” during the cross-examination of Senator Linda Reynolds was “legally unreasonable”.

The inquiry was launched after police and prosecutors made claims about each other’s conduct during the trial of former political staffer Lehrmann.

In 2019, Lehrmann was accused of raping his then-colleague Brittany Higgins inside Reynolds’ Parliament House office. His 2022 ACT Supreme Court trial was abandoned due to jury misconduct and a retrial was dismissed over concerns about Higgins’ health, leaving no findings against him.

Lehrmann has always denied the allegation.

Drumgold resigned last August after the release of Sofronoff’s report.

Apology and payout for Reynolds

Kaye’s ruling came as it emerged that the ACT government has paid Reynolds $90,000 and issued a formal apology after Drumgold accused her of disturbing conduct during Lehrmann’s rape trial.

In a letter of complaint to the Australian Federal Police, Drumgold alleged Reynolds “engaged in direct coaching of the defence cross-examination of the complainant”.

Reynolds launched a defamation case against him and the ACT government in December after the document was published by media, claiming it caused significant loss and damage.

On Friday, all parties reached a compromised settlement. Reynolds has been paid $70,000 in damages and $20,000 in legal fees.

“The settlement does include a formal apology from the territory. That apology is made by the Director-General of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate on behalf of the ACT government,” ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said.

“It has been provided to Senator Reynolds and she is free to publish it as she sees fit.”

The ACT government also issued a formal apology and retracted the allegations in Drumgold’s letter while directing current DPP staff not to publish further allegations against the former defence minister.

“We accept that allegations about Senator Reynolds made by the former director of public prosecutions were found by the board of inquiry to be defamatory,” a Justice and Community Safety Directorate spokesperson said.

“We will not be commenting further on this matter.”

Lehrmann was accused of raping fellow political staffer Brittany Higgins inside Reynolds’ ministerial office in 2019. His 2022 trial was abandoned due to jury misconduct and a retrial was called off due to concerns about Higgins’ health.

He has denied the accusations.

Reynolds has been contacted for comment.

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– with AAP