Civil Liberty - "Rent boy" Judge resigns in disgrace

From The Banbury Guardian.

A senior circuit judge who hit the headlines over claims he had a passionate fling with a male prostitute has resigned, it was confirmed.
Judge Gerald Price QC, 61, was suspended last summer when an official investigation was launched into his conduct.

It recommended the judge should be sacked as a result of his conduct but he resigned after a failed appeal, before he could be dismissed.

The investigation was launched after disclosures in the News of the World in June last year claiming he had a nine-month affair with a £250-a-night rent boy. Mr Price, who is married, sat as a senior circuit judge in Swansea, Cardiff and Carmarthen, South Wales.

Christopher Williams, 26, the male prostitute, alleged that he had had an intimate affair with the now-former judge.

He was widely reported claiming that Mr Price had set him up in a flat and paid him an allowance. He also claimed that he was allowed to sit on the bench during trials and was even present during sentencing.

Mr Price is believed to have made initial contact with Mr Williams through an escort website in September 2008. Mr Williams claimed at the time that he initially met Mr Price in a hotel and later at his second home near Carmarthen, West Wales.

News of his resignation came in the form of a statement issued by the Office for Judicial Complaints.

"Gerald Price QC, a circuit judge who was appointed to the Wales circuit in 2000, has resigned from judicial office following an investigation into allegations about his conduct originally published in the media in June 2009," a spokesman for the Office for Judicial Complaints said.

"While the media reported a number of allegations against Judge Price, the judicial investigation only focused on those that had an impact on his role as a judge. The investigation found that his actions brought the judiciary into disrepute, rendering his position untenable. In the light of the investigation, the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice informed the judge in December 2009 that they considered his behaviour merited removal from office."