Judge ordered to serve on jury in trial he was already the judge for

An admin blunder saw Judge Keith Cutler being summoned to be part of a jury on the same trial he was meant to be a judge in. Photo / Getty

An administrative blunder has seen a judge being summoned for jury service on the same trial he was meant to be the judge in.

In the UK, judges lost their exemption from doing jury service, meaning they are legally required to sit on a jury should they be called up.

Unfortunately for Judge Keith Cutler, he was called up to serve as a jury member and judge on the same court trial at the same time.

After being summoned to serve on the jury, Judge Cutler swiftly wrote back to the jury summons pointing out that he was listed to be the judge in the trial.

However, he was told his explanation was not a sufficiently strong excuse and was again ordered to serve on the jury, The Times reported.

He then contacted the Jury Central Summoning Bureau directly, saying: "I told the Jury Central Summoning Bureau that I thought I would be inappropriate seeing as I happened to be the judge and knew all the papers," he told The Times.

But even after he contacted the bureau, they rejected his appeal for exemption and said to take the matter up with the resident judge for Winchester and Salisbury.

Cutler responded, again, this time cutting straight to the point.

"I am the resident judge."

Cutler phoned them up and explained the situation, with the bureau finally seeing common sense and exempting the judge from jury duty.

Cutler said he always wanted to be on a jury, mainly to see if he liked the judge and gain an understanding of what it's like on the other side of the courtroom.

In the UK, ignoring jury summons can earn a fine of up to £1000.