A judge has been found guilty of misconduct after threatening to use his influence to get cash from businessmen in a dispute.
Crown Court beak Mark Horton tried to bully a company’s owners for payments after it went bust.
The legal eagle was a shareholder in a family firm. A spokesman said HHJ Horton’s involvement in his family’s firm did not breach any guidance.
An investigating High Court judge recommended the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice give Horton a warning.
In a statement, the Judicial Complaints Investigation Office said: “The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice have issued a formal warning to His Honour Judge Mark Anthony Horton after an investigation determined he did not exercise appropriate caution when a family business of which he was a shareholder found itself in a dispute.
“He expressed his views of the law, threatened legal action, and exerted pressure in circumstances when he was aware his judicial status was known to those he was communicating with.”
A judiciary spokesperson said that the JCIO had published a final statement on this case on its website in November.”
The spokesman added: “Judge Mark Anthony Horton has accepted the conclusion of the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor and has no further comment to make.”
