More than £25,000 spent on improving security at judge's homes following rise of threats

Tens of thousands of pounds has been spent on improving security at the homes of British judges as one describes the amount of threats made towards them as "getting worse". Since 2014, more than £25,000 ($31,000) has been spent on installing security measures at the homes of four judges, £20,918.74 of which was spent at just one house.

According to figures obtained by the Press Association via Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, a further £3,939.93 was spent installing security at the homes of three other judges.

The figures arrive after several High Court and Supreme Court judges faced a barrage of abuse after ruling that Article 50 must get a vote in Parliament before it is triggered, including a Daily Mail front page which declared them the "enemies of the people".

A recently released Judicial Attitude Survey also revealed that 48% of female judges and 36% of male judges fear for their safety out of court, while 51% still fear for their safety inside court.

One judge, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Press Association that personal attacks and threats have increased in recent years and have become so severe police came to her house and spoke to her neighbours to ensure she had a safety plan.

She said: "The level of threats is getting worse. Incidents are common and the authorities are not even recording them."

Professor Cheryl Thomas, co-director of the UCL Judicial Institute who coordinated the Judicial Attitude Survey, added district judges also fear for their safety and blames government cuts in courts for the lack of protection.

She said: "That reflects the nature of the case before those judges, often very emotionally charged, difficult family cases perhaps involving the removal of a child from the family home.

"Also related to this is the increase in litigants in person, as a result of the government cuts in legal aid.

"So as we have more and more people who need to go to court to resolve difficult, stressful, emotional family breakdown issues, who may not have access to lawyers to represent them, you have warring parties fighting it out in court.

"And that places much greater security concerns on judges in court."