Magistrate warned after personal attack on court worker in expenses row

A magistrate who launched a personal attack on a court worker after clashing over his expenses has been handed a formal warning by the Lady Chief Justice.

Richard Giugno made “inappropriate personal comments” about his colleague after unsuccessfully trying to submit a large number of expense claims over the time limit.

The JP’s “aggressive, demanding and intimidatory tone” during an exchange of emails with Julien Vantyghem, the then head of legal operations for the region, led to a probe by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.

Judicial conduct rules require magistrates to be “courteous, patient and tolerant”, and to “respect the dignity of all”.

Mr Giugno, who has a previously unblemished record, denied all wrongdoing, and said the “misconceived and vexatious” complaint had been brought by Mr Vantyghem to retaliate against him.

But investigators rejected his claim, and concluded that the tone of Mr Giugno’s emails had been “inappropriate and aggressive”.

“His comments about Mr Vantyghem were of grave concern as they amounted to a personal attack,” the report said.

“Whilst it was acknowledged that Mr Giugno was in a dispute with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service over expenses, this did not justify the tone of the email.”

A spokesman for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said: “Mr Justice Keehan, on behalf of the Lady Chief Justice and with the Lord Chancellor’s agreement, has issued Mr Richard Giugno JP with a formal warning for misconduct.”