Judges, coroners and magistrates have been rapped for sleeping in courtroom, sending a love letter and deleting messages from a ‘drug seller’ in dozens of disciplinaries since 2022

Dozens of judges, coroners and magistrates have been rapped for bad behaviour since 2022 – including courtroom rants, dozing off and committing crime.

One hundred and forty-nine JPs and judges have been reprimanded for breaking strict judicial conduct rules in the last two years.

An audit of figures revealed 60 landed in the Judicial Complaints Investigation Office disciplinary dock in 2024 – with 56 cases in 2023 and 33 in 2022.

They include judicial figures drinking on the job, being caught speeding and bullying barristers.

In one case, a high court judge who sent a love letter to a ‘vulnerable’ junior staff member was reprimanded for ‘serious misconduct’.

Mr Justice Marcus Smith wrote a handwritten note that ‘he loved the young woman and wanted to know her feelings in return’, the JCIO said.

The senior judge claimed he had not intended to take advantage of the young woman but had sought support. 

And last year, a crown court judge was accused of deleting messages from an alleged drug dealer to ‘judge Andy’.

Andrew Easteal, 58, was sacked after judicial investigators said he ‘deliberately deleted data in the knowledge that it was of interest to police officers carrying out a criminal investigation’.

Another judge was sanctioned after liking a barrister’s pro-Palestine social media post on LinkedIn.

Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram claimed he liked the ‘repulsive’ post ‘inadvertently’.

It read: ‘Free Free Palestine … Israel, you can run, you can bomb but you cannot hide — justice will be coming for you.’

A coroner was sanctioned after being overheard describing a lawyer’s arguments as ‘b*****ks’.

Shropshire assistant coroner Heath Westerman was formally warned over the slur.

Mr Westerman said he used the term ‘b*****ks’ due to frustration caused by a ‘poor submission’ by the complainant’s lawyer.

Circuit judge Michael Slater was handed ‘formal advice for misconduct’ after nodding off during a case.

Deputy district judge Sarah Ellis was sanctioned after being caught speeding on an A-road.

She was convicted and handed six penalty points and told to pay nearly £1,000 in fines and costs .

The JCIO said Ellis was ‘substantially above the speed limit’ but took into account her apology.

Since 2020, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO), part of the Ministry of Justice, received more than 4,200 complaints from the public against members of the judiciary.

The public made 1,620 complaints about members of the judiciary in 2022-23 and 1.817 in 2021-22.

Over the past decade, more than 19,000 complaints about judges’ behaviour have been recorded.

Investigations by the JCIO have led to court officials being sacked, reprimanded, and forced to resign for charges including drink-driving, being drunk in court and taking too long to produce a judgment.

The JCIO ruled the Lincoln judge’s conduct was so serious that he ‘should be removed from office’.

Employment judge Pauline Hughes was given a formal warning after being caught drinking on the job.

She sank alcohol in her chambers during a break in a case in August 2023.

The hearing was halted when colleagues in Birmingham noticed she appeared intoxicated.

And a senior Court of Appeal judge was warned after behaving in a ‘rude and hostile’ manner to barristers that amounted to ‘judicial bullying’.

Lord Justice Clive Lewis was one of two judges who ruled in 2022 that the Conservative government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was lawful.

Most investigations stemmed from magistrates not meeting minimum sitting requirements.

A spokesman for the JCIO said: ‘With around 22,000 judicial office-holders in post, misconduct remains rare.’