webofevil | "A bit like Turkish Delight"

A high court judge who made allegedly mocking remarks about a sheikh involved in a multi-million pound divorce was today ordered to step down from the case.

Giving reasons for the decision, the court of appeal said Mr Justice Singer, a family division judge, had said during the private hearing that the sheikh could choose “to depart on his flying carpet” to escape paying costs. The judge also said the man should be available to attend hearings “at this, I think, relatively fast-free time of the year”.

The court of appeal said the judge had said the sheikh should be in court so “every grain of sand is sifted”, and called his evidence “a bit gelatinous ... a bit like Turkish Delight”.

Sheikh Khalid Ben Abdfullah Rashid al-Fawaz asked the judge to stand down on the grounds that his remarks showed bias. When the judge refused, the sheikh took the case to the court of appeal, where Lord Justice Ward today described it as “a singularly unsatisfactory, unfortunate and embarrassing matter”.

Mr Justice Singer said he had attempted to arrange for the final hearing in the case “to be conducted by one of my colleagues, but the workload on the family division of the high court and the judicial resources available to us did not permit this if a long postponement of the final hearing was to be avoided”.

The judge added: “Clearly, though, this does not excuse the way I expressed myself.” [Guardian]