High Court judge withdraws from cases after MoS reveals PIE links
THE top judge exposed as a campaigner for a vile paedophile group is now under official investigation for misconduct.
Lord Justice Fulford was revealed by The Mail on Sunday last week to have been a founder of a ‘defence committee’ for the Paedophile Information Exchange while it was openly calling for the age of consent to be cut to just four.
He discussed holding courtroom protests at meetings with PIE chairman Tom O’Carroll – who was jailed for two years in 1981 for conspiracy to corrupt public morals – and wrote articles claiming O’Carroll’s trial was an ‘act of oppression’ because the child sex campaigners only wanted to ‘make friends’.
Following our story, horrified members of the public made a string of complaints about the senior judge and the official watchdog for the judiciary has agreed to launch an investigation into his conduct.
Fulford, who was last year appointed to the Privy Council – an elite circle of advisers to the Queen – has offered not to sit on any criminal cases at the Court of Appeal until the investigation is completed.
If the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office finds he should have declared his involvement with the paedophile groups, or that his support for them brought him into disrepute, he could face disciplinary action from Justice Secretary Chris Grayling and Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd.
Details of the exact allegations made against Fulford are not being made public. A spokesman for the watchdog said: ‘The JCIO has received a number of complaints in relation to Lord Justice Fulford. The JCIO has started an investigation in accordance with the Judicial Conduct (Judicial and other office holders) Rules 2013.
‘Lord Justice Fulford has voluntarily refrained from sitting in criminal cases pending the outcome of the investigation.’
Lord Justice Fulford, 61, said: ‘I positively welcome that this will be the subject of a detailed and independent investigation.’
A senior QC said: ‘Fulford’s stepping down from criminal appeals is unprecedented. He was appointed for his criminal expertise and he really has no other specialisation.’