Critics who abuse judges on social media should be put on trial, the Lord Chief Justice has suggested.

Lord Burnett of Maldon said the possibility of prosecuting online trolls was "should be looked at" but warned that it was often too difficult to find the identity of the person involved.

His comments come in the wake of abuse online of judges involved in the Alfie Evans case, in particular Mr Justice Hayden, the High Court judge who ruled in February that the terminally ill child's life support could be withdrawn.

A petition calling for the judge to step down and describing him as a "disgrace to our legal system" had received more than 14,000 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.

Lord Burnett told the Lords Constitution Committee that abuse "hurled at judges in the courtroom" was often shrugged off but in persistent cases "the contempt jurisdiction should be explored more fully".

Responding to a question from leading barrister Lord Pannick QC about using contempt of court laws to prosecute trolls, the head of the judiciary said: "The problem with many of the social media type abuse is that it's impossible immediately to identify who the abuser is.