A NORTHERN Ireland tribunal is to hold an inquiry that will decide whether a High Court judge convicted of drink-driving should be allowed to continue serving as a judge.
Charles Redpath, a master of the High Court in Belfast, stood down after he was last week convicted of driving with excess alcohol.
At Newtownards Magistrates Court in Co Down, he was fined £120 and banned from driving for a year.
He was charged when he failed a breath test after the PSNI stopped him in Bangor, Co Down, in October last year.
A tribunal is now being convened on the instructions of the North’s lord chief justice, Sir Declan Morgan, that will determine whether Mr Redpath (53) will have a judicial future.
Mr Redpath stood down at the request of the lord chief justice and has not sat since the offence was committed.
A spokeswoman for the lord chief justice’s office yesterday confirmed that Mr Redpath was convicted of the drink-driving charge.
“A tribunal is in the process of being convened to consider whether master Redpath should be removed from judicial office. Master Redpath will continue not to sit at the request of the lord chief justice until the tribunal reaches its decision,” she added.
Mr Redpath is a High Court member with the title of master matrimonial. He deals with issues such as divorce and maintenance and other matters relating to matrimonial law.
The tribunal, whose members have yet to be selected, is taking place under the Justice (NI) Act 2002 (as amended by the Northern Ireland Act 2009).
It “provides that a judicial office holder can only be removed from office by the lord chief justice on the recommendation of a tribunal convened by either the lord chief justice or the judicial appointments ombudsman, after consulting each other”.
The act also dictates that the tribunal is to consist of two judicial office holders and a lay member. The judicial members are selected by the lord chief justice and the lay member by the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission.
The removal of judges was a matter for the British lord chancellor prior to the devolution of justice matters to the Northern Executive last year.
