The UK’s Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) is investigating judge Patricia Lynch QC after she
called a defendant a “c***” in court.
The exchange happened between judge Lynch and 50-year-old John Hennigan at the Chelmsford Crown Court last week.
Hennigan was in court after breaching his anti-social behaviour order for the ninth time in 11 years, according to the
BBC.
The judge was subjected to a barrage of abusive language from Hennigan and halfway through sentencing, Hennigan called Lynch, who has been a circuit judge 2014, “a bit of a c***”.
She replied: “You are a bit of a c*** yourself. Being offensive to me doesn’t help.”
The remark made headlines and went viral on social media but it also appears to have prompted some to complain to the JCIO which has launched a probe into whether Lynch violated Judicial Conduct rules.
Lynch eventually handed Hennigan an 18-month prison term for making racist insults to a black Caribbean woman.
