England: High Court judge disciplined over love letter to young colleague

Mr Justice Marcus Smith, 57, a former president of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, “passed a handwritten letter” to a woman and referred to his “feelings for her”, a ruling from the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office stated.

The letter “caused the young woman to feel distressed, angry, let down and devalued”.

Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill and Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood approved a sanction for the judge that is the most serious that can be given short of sacking them.

The letter to the staff member “stated that he loved the young woman and wanted to know her feelings in return”.

The young woman became “very distressed” after reading the letter and said that she did not want to work with the judge again or to be in a position in which she would encounter him.

Mr Justice Smith acknowledged that his letter was “plainly inappropriate” and that it had caused the woman “significant emotional distress”.

He said the letter was “a poorly framed attempt to reach out to her for support and to discuss his problems with her”.

“By giving the letter to the young woman, he was clearly expressing his love for her and that he wanted to take things further,” the report said, adding that “his actions were part of a course of escalating conduct towards a young woman, a junior member of staff who was in a very vulnerable position in relation to him. He had abused his position and crossed lines which should not be crossed.”