Dear Sir or Madam

Please confirm how many currently serving judges have a criminal
record.

Please confirm how many offences are of a:

(1) sexual nature (2) violence related nature (3) fraud and
dishonesty

I look forward to receiving this information.

Your Aye

Lord Robert McDowall

Dear Mr McDowall,

Your request for information as follows has been passed to me:

Please confirm how many currently serving judges have a
criminal record.

Please confirm how many offences are of a:

(1) sexual nature (2) violence related nature (3) fraud
and dishonesty

Judges are required to be of good character and this is incompatible with
having any serious criminal conviction. Applicants for judicial office have
to declare any convictions, and their criminal records are also checked with
the police. It is possible for someone with convictions for minor motoring
offences to be appointed, but we keep no record of how many judges have such
convictions prior to appointment and it is therefore impossible to provide
you with that information.

Serving judges are also required to notify us of any convictions. It is
possible for a judge to continue serving after receiving a conviction for a
minor motoring offence, but we have no record of how many judges acquire
such convictions after appointment and therefore cannot provide you with
that information.

If a judge were to be convicted of a more serious offence, including any
offence of the types you have listed, he would be subject to a disciplinary
process and would almost certainly be removed from office, either by The
Queen after votes in both Houses of Parliament (in the case of High Court
Judges and above), or by the Lord Chancellor with the consent of the Lord
Chief Justice (in the case of Circuit Judges and below).

I am not aware of any serving judge who has any serious criminal conviction.
The last such case to occur was His Honour Judge Bruce Campbell, a Circuit
Judge who was convicted of smuggling and was removed from office by Lord
Hailsham in 1983. More recently, in 1998, His Honour Judge Richard Gee was
tried at the Old Bailey for having allegedly assisted mortgage fraud when he
had been a solicitor, but the jury failed to reach a verdict after three
weeks and the Attorney General entered a Nolle Prosequi to prevent a retrial
(having initially sought one) because of concerns about the judge's health.
He resigned from the Bench in 1999.

I hope this is helpful.

Jonathan Creer

Head of Judicial HR Services
The Judicial Office
020 7073 1628

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