Judge caught watching porn at work is rebuked by SRA

A judge removed from office for watching porn at work has received a further reprimand from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Warren Lewis Grant, who was admitted as a solicitor in 1989, was removed in March 2015 following 13 years as an immigration judge.

Advertisement

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) took action following the allegation Grant watched pornographic material on judicial IT equipment in his office.

The lord chancellor and lord chief justice were said to be satisfied the material was not illegal, but described it as an ‘inexcusable misuse of his judicial IT account and wholly unacceptable conduct’ for a judicial office holder.

In a regulatory settlement agreement published today by the SRA, Grant accepted that by using computer facilities to access inappropriate material in judicial time, he had failed to act with integrity and failed to behave in a way that maintains the trust of the public.

These amounted to two breaches of SRA principles.

The SRA said it accepted that at the time Grant was suffering from severe reactive depression, and that it was appropriate to issue a written rebuke.

The agreement added: ‘The SRA considers this to be a proportionate outcome in the public interest because Mr Grant’s conduct was deliberate or reckless and was neither trivial nor justifiably inadvertent.

‘The SRA has taken account of the action already taken by the JCIO, subsequent media coverage and the impact of that on Mr Grant when reaching this decision.’

Grant agreed to pay a contribution of £600 to cover investigation costs.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Judge caught watching porn at work is rebuked by SRA