MP backs judge probe

A Herefordshire MP has taken up the cause of a local solicitor who alleges that a district judge 'has had it in for him' since he issued a complaint.

Paul Bayliss, partner in Lloyds & Cooper, said problems started in 1992 when the judge was a solicitor opposing him in a civil action.

Mr Bayliss told the Solicitors Complaints Bureau, as it then was, that his opponent - who he says was given the judicial appointment while the complaint was ongoing - had committed a misuse of legal aid.He maintains that since then he and his colleagues at Lloyds & Cooper must travel miles to other courts to avoid the judge, who has never ruled in his clients' favour.In response to a parliamentary question from Leominster MP Bill Wiggins, Lord Chancellor's Department minister Michael Wills said the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, has personally called for a full investigation.'It is the Lord Chancellor's intention to bring this investigation to as prompt a conclusion as possible,' he added.Mr Bayliss said it was 'not cricket' that a judge who was the subject of such complaints had been allowed to retain his position for so long without proper investigation.Paula Rohan