Judge publicly reprimanded over driving ban

Judge publicly reprimanded over driving ban

Lord Justice Thorpe did not tell judicial authorities when he was banned for eight weeks after going through a red light

One of Britain's most senior appeal court judges has been publicly reprimanded for receiving a driving ban and failing to inform judicial authorities that he was facing traffic offences.

Lord Justice Thorpe, 73, who is also head of international family justice, was caught going through red lights on the Victoria Embankment in central London by a police camera.

He was banned from driving for eight weeks after totting up 12 penalty points over the course of the previous 18 months. The judge pleaded guilty at Westminster magistrates court to failing to stop at a red signal.

Court officials only became aware of the case after reading about it in a newspaper. A statement from the Office for Judicial Complaints released on Friday said: "The lord chancellor [the justice secretary, Ken Clarke] and the lord chief justice [Lord Judge] have issued Lord Justice Thorpe with a reprimand for receiving a driving ban and for failing to adhere to the guidance regarding the reporting of traffic offences."

Thorpe faced a six-month ban when he appeared before magistrates last August but the sentence was reduced because he said he needed to run a farm in Wiltshire. He was fined £250 and ordered to pay another £250 in costs.

According to the report, which appeared in the Evening Standard in August last year, Thorpe told the court he needed to be able to drive to herd and feed his 80 cattle.

"It is going to be difficult for me to cope without a licence," he explained. "Of course I recognise that these circumstances must be exceptional and maybe these are not but I still wish to present them for your consideration."

District judge Daphne Wickham reduced the ban to 56 days. "I am prepared to concede that the six months would be a long time for this defendant to be disqualified," she said.

As the first head of international family law, Thorpe is one of the country's leading experts on divorce, parenting and the breakdown of marriage.

He has responsibility for liaising with judges over divorce cases in foreign jurisdictions.