A Kent magistrate who publicly opposes adoption by same-sex couples on religious grounds and sits in the family courts has been sacked for serious misconduct.

The decision to remove Richard Page, 69, following an interview he gave on BBC television last year, was authorised by both the justice secretary, Michael Gove, and the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd.

Page, who had been on the bench for 15 years, had only a month more to serve as a justice of the peace, according to the Christian Legal Centre, which has supported him.



The investigation into his conduct was the second time he had been subject to disciplinary procedures. A statement by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said: “Mr Richard Page JP, a magistrate assigned to the Central Kent Bench, has been removed from the magistracy.



“The lord chancellor and lord chief justice found that Mr Page’s comments on national television would have caused a reasonable person to conclude he was biased and prejudiced against single-sex adopters; they considered this to be serious misconduct which brought the magistracy into disrepute.

“They have therefore removed Mr Page from the magistracy. In 2014 the lord chancellor and lord chief justice issued Mr Page with a reprimand after finding that during a family court hearing he had allowed himself to be influenced by his religious beliefs and not by the evidence.”

The television interview took place in March 2015, during which Page said: “My responsibility as a magistrate, as I saw it, was to do what I considered best for the child, and my feeling was therefore that it would be better if it was a man and woman who were the adopted parents.” The interview was part of a TV debate about Christians in public life.



In a statement issued through the Christian Legal Centre, Page, who previously worked as an NHS manager, said: “As a highly experienced magistrate, I have made judgments on thousands of cases and in each case have come to my decision based on the evidence, and the evidence alone, placed before me and my colleagues. That is the oath which I took when I became a justice of the peace.

“When you sit in a family court, you have a huge responsibility to ensure the overall wellbeing of the children who are being recommended to be placed into new families. You weigh the reports and references before you and the evidence you hear.”

He continued: “In the case of same-sex couples adopting children, it has only been a relatively short time that same-sex couples have been able to adopt and foster, and therefore there has not been time for a proper analysis to be carried out into the effects such placements have on the children’s educational, emotional and developmental wellbeing.

“As a magistrate I have to act on the evidence before me and, quite simply, I believe that there is not sufficient evidence to convince me that placing a child in the care of a same-sex couple can be as holistically beneficial to a child as placing them with a mum and dad as God and nature intended.

“I am surprised that this lord chancellor should seemingly pander to the new political orthodoxy when what it amounts to is social experimentation on the lives of the most vulnerable children in our communities.

“To punish me and to seek to silence me for expressing a dissenting view is deeply worrying. I shall challenge this decision as it is deeply illiberal and intolerant. It is vital the family law courts always have in mind the best interests of the children.”

The Christian Legal Centre’s chief executive, Andrea Minichiello Williams, said: “The lord chancellor has removed Richard from the magistracy for allegedly being prejudiced and for speaking out in the media about what has happened to him.

“This unmasks the face of the new political orthodoxy: it is unkind, it tries to silence opposing views and if it fails it crushes and punishes the person who holds those views.

“To remove someone like Richard from the bench is modern-day madness. He has a lifetime of public service, expertise in mental health. He is motivated by his Christian faith and a deep compassion for people.”