A district judge sitting in the magistrates’ court has been issued with formal advice for misconduct after issuing late judgments five times.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office received two complaints about district judge (magistrates’ court) Stephen Leake’s delays in issuing judgments.
The judge did not dispute the factual basis of the complaints but provided ‘further factual context to one of the complaints’, the JCIO said. Leake said ‘some operational circumstances of the court had led to an exceptional workload and ‘some personal circumstances’ contributed to longer timeframes for completing his work.
An investigation found delays of ‘just under’ 11 months and 10 months in two separate instances. Both amounted to misconduct. Complaints in relation to another three instances were found not to be misconduct.
Leake was found to have ‘worked as hard as he could in the context of his challenging workload and personal circumstances’ but, the investigation found, ‘should have sought support from his leadership judges’.
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The JCIO added: ‘DJ (MC) Leake had increased his workload unnecessarily by promising written reasons where they were not required.’
Leake was issued with formal advice for a similar delay in November 2024. The lady chief justice, with the lord chancellor’s agreement, took into consideration Leake’s personal mitigation and issued the district judge with formal advice for misconduct.
