Two district judges have been sanctioned over delays, one involving a court order and the other a transcription.
District Judge Allan Pickup was issued with formal advice for misconduct after the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office received a complaint alleging he had delayed drawing an order following a hearing in December 2024.
Though the parties made enquiries about the order and reminders were sent from the court office, the order was not drawn until June 2025. The delay of more than seven months, the complainant said, meant welfare body the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service was unable to commence safeguarding work within the 16-week period referenced at the hearing.
Pickup accepted that the delay in issuing the order was unacceptable and apologised to the parties. He cited in mitigation work pressures, including ‘heavy daily lists and significant paper and digital boxwork’.
A spokesperson for the JCIO said the judge had ‘since taken steps to ensure that similar oversights do not occur again’.
Read more
District Judge Joanne Redmond was also issued with formal advice for misconduct.
The JCIO received a complaint from a litigant that the judge took six months to approve the full transcription of a judgment. She accepted that ‘due to an administrative oversight, she was responsible for the delay and expressed her sincere apologies to all those affected’.
Redmond gave personal reasons for the delay and explained, the JCIO said, ‘that the production of the transcript had not followed the usual course of events, and that this had contributed to the delay’. The JCIO added: ‘She confirmed that she has taken steps to ensure that delays do not occur in the future.’
Sanctions for misconduct by judicial office-holders are, in order of severity, formal advice, formal warning, reprimand and removal from office. Both Pickup and Redmond had previously unblemished conduct records.
