Three British judges were fired for allegedly viewing pornography on court computers and a fourth judge resigned following an inquiry by the U.K.'s Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.
While the pornography they reportedly viewed isn’t illegal, officials declared the judges’ actions to be "inexcusable misuse" of their official accounts and
"wholly unacceptable conduct for a judicial office holder," the BBC reported.
Removed from office were District Judge Timothy Bowles, Immigration Judge Warren Grant, and Deputy District Judge and Recorder Peter Bullock. A fourth judge, Recorder Andrew Maw, resigned before he could be fired, the BBC said.
"I do not wish to comment save to say that for some years before, and during, the period covered by the conduct which formed the subject of the complaint laid against me I was suffering from severe and undiagnosed depression," Grant said in a statement. "I request that the privacy of my family and myself be respected so that we are allowed to continue with our lives."
A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice said the material didn’t include any images of children or any other illegal content, and
no other information about the inquiry would be disclosed, The Independent reported.
The fired judges, who were all relatively junior in their positions, could challenge the decision by requesting a judicial review, but it is unknown whether any of them disputed the findings.
In 2013, a Freedom of Information request
by the Huffington Post UK revealed that members of parliament attempted to access porn on the Parliamentary Network more than 300,000 times between May 2012 and July 2013.