Mr Justice Marcus Smith, who was found guilty of serious misconduct, was said to have ‘abused his position and crossed lines which should not be crossed’.
A senior judge has been disciplined for sending a “love letter” to a young colleague in the latest misbehaviour saga to beset the bench in England.
Mr Justice Marcus Smith, who is president of the competition appeal tribunal and sits in the chancery division of the High Court, “passed a handwritten letter” to a woman that referred to several “personal matters and his feelings for her”, according to a ruling from the judicial conduct investigations office.
It went on to reveal that the letter “caused the young woman to feel distressed, angry, let down and devalued”.
Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, the lady chief justice, and Shabana Mahmood, the lord chancellor, have approved a sanction for Smith that is the most serious a judge can receive short of being sacked.
The ruling came just days after a member of an employment tribunal was given a formal rebuke after describing the collective noun for a group of Conservatives as a “tumour”.
In another incident earlier this year, Tan Ikram, the deputy chief magistrate — who spared three women convicted of terrorism in relation to anti-Israel protests from serving a jail sentence — was disciplined over his behaviour on social media. Simon Myerson KC, who sits as a recorder, was also reprimanded over social media activity.
In her complaint to the investigations office, the woman, who has not been identified, detailed several allegations about the judge’s behaviour, including that he confided to her about his relationship with his judicial leadership and asked her “to go for walks with him”.
Smith’s letter to the staff member was also said to have “stated that he loved the young woman and wanted to know her feelings in return”.
The judicial authorities noted that having read the letter, the young woman became “very distressed” and in her complaint said that she did not want to work with the judge again or be in a position where she would encounter him.
In its ruling, the investigations office noted that Smith — a 57-year-old Oxford University graduate — had accepted that he had written the letter and passed it to the young woman.
The judge also acknowledged that the letter was “plainly inappropriate” and that it had caused the woman “significant emotional distress”.
Smith had told the authorities that he had not intended to pressure or take advantage of the woman. He told the investigations office that he “admired her intellect and enjoyed working with her”.
He realised that he had been ignoring warning signs about his workload and health and that the letter was “a poorly framed attempt to reach out to her for support and to discuss his problems with her”.
The judge, who was promoted to the High Court seven years ago, assured the authorities that he would not repeat the behaviour.
The ruling said that Smith was guilty of serious misconduct.
“By giving the letter to the young woman, he was clearly expressing his love for her and that he wanted to take things further,” the report said, adding that “his actions were part of a course of escalating conduct towards a young woman, a junior member of staff who was in a very vulnerable position in relation to him. He had abused his position and crossed lines which should not be crossed.”
The investigations office noted that it was “unsurprising that the complainant had been distressed” and that “the impact on her was likely to be lasting”.
In recommending the serious sanction, the nominated judge who oversaw the review of Smith’s behaviour said that he had “shown little insight into why his actions were so wrong”.
The ruling noted that Smith “had not acknowledged the romantic aspect of the letter, focusing instead on his own circumstances and feelings”.
First published in The Times, Jonathan Ames, Legal Editor