Jeevan A. Robinson
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Four judges have been removed from the bench in the United Kingdom following investigations into alleged viewing of pornography on office computers.
Three judges; District Judge Timothy Bowles, Immigration Judge Warren Grant, and Deputy District Judge and Recorder Peter Bullock were all under investigation by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. The fourth judge, recorder Andrew Maw, who resigned, was also found to have viewed pornography via his judicial IT account. The JCIO concluded that the men in question displayed “inexcusable misuse” of their IT accounts.
Reports suggest that the salaries of District judges can range from £115,000 a year. Also, first-tier tribunal judges are paid £113,000.
According to a report in The Guardian, “the judges were not exchanging images or believed to be linked in any way. The JCIO declined to say whether the images had been discovered during a routine internal audit of computer files or through a different procedure.”
Viewing pornography is not an illegal act, however, there is an issue of ethics, and it was seen as inappropriate in as far as going towards undermining public confidence in the judiciary.
According to reports, “dismissal was seen as a necessary punishment for judges whose private lives are not expected to raise questions about their impartiality – or judgment.”
The JCIO stated; “The lord chancellor [the justice secretary, Chris Grayling] and the lord chief justice [Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd] were satisfied that the material did not include images of children or any other illegal content, but concluded that this was an inexcusable misuse of their judicial IT accounts and wholly unacceptable conduct for a judicial office-holder.”
The JCIO’s disciplinary procedure does not afford for an appeal, but dismissed judges can reportedly make a judicial review challenge.
