A judge has been sacked for boozing on the job.

Recorder Francis Evans QC had to be helped by staff after they found him drinking alcohol on court premises during the day. An investigation conducted by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office found that the judge had "created significant problems for the court staff assisting him", though it did not specify whether he was chugging in a courtroom or just staggering round the car park wearing all the wigs.

The JCIO upheld another complaint made against Evans for repeatedly welching on child maintenance payments. His defaults resulted in court proceedings and two suspended committal orders for non-payment, neither of which he reported to his superiors.
 

A judge reacts

It's not the first time Evans has butted heads with a regulator. In 2013 the part-time recorder was found guilty of professional misconduct for accepting work from a law firm blacklisted by the Bar for not paying barristers' fees, though he successfully appealed the £1,500 fine levied by the Bar Standards Board. This time, a spokesperson for the JCIO said that the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice "considered that in both matters, Evans's actions demonstrated a lack of awareness and fell below the standard expected of a judicial office holder". And sacked him.

A spokesman for the BSB said, "We do not comment on individual cases of booze".