Complaint over judge's Rooney traveller family remarks

Judge Timothy Spencer QC made the remarks while sentencing members of the Rooney family

A judge's comments about the traveller community have led to a formal complaint.

Judge Timothy Spencer QC made the remarks while sentencing members of the Rooney family for modern slavery offences at Nottingham Crown Court.

He said he "feared" such exploitation was common at traveller camps.

The National Alliance of Gypsy Traveller and Roma Women confirmed it had lodged a complaint to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO).

The Rooney family had kept their workers in squalid conditions in caravans at Drinsey Nook in Lincolnshire.

The victims were all described as vulnerable adults, aged between 18 and 63, who were often homeless and had been picked up by the defendants from across the UK.

'Demonised everybody'

Judge Spencer told the family as he jailed them: "You claimed that what went on at Drinsey was no different from what was going on at any travellers' camp around this country, that all travellers had workers operating under similar conditions.

"Sadly, I very much fear that you may be correct about that. But that does not make any of it right."

Shay Clipson, chair of the National Alliance of Gypsy Traveller and Roma Women, said the remarks "potentially demonised everybody".

"It gave the impression wherever there is a gypsy site there is the potential that people are being exploited," she added.

"Judges are not supposed to make social comment, but if he felt the need to do so he would been better placed to ask about why so many vulnerable people are living on the streets where predators of any ethnicity could exploit them.

"I am Romany and I frequently visit sites and I have never been on a site where I have seen people being treated as slaves."

The BBC has asked the JCIO for comment.