Former Birmingham judge who called Muslim colleague 'tent head' fined £10,000

A FORMER judge has been fined £10,000 by a solicitors’ watchdog after labelling a female Muslim colleague a ‘tent head’.

Stephen Jones also called legal assistant Saleca Faisal-Parkar “Mother Teresa” in emails to colleagues at their Warwickshire law firm, Shakespeare Putsnam.

And the mum-of-one was labelled ‘lazy’ by the high-flying solicitor, who was also a deputy district judge.

Mrs Faisal-Parker, from Great Barr, Birmingham, received a £75,000 payout two years ago following an employment tribunal. She had claimed discrimination on the grounds of her race and sex, religious beliefs and pregnancy.

Now Mr Jones has been slapped with a £10,000 fine by the Solicitor Disciplinary Tribunal over the allegations, as well as being ordered to pay £8,000 costs.

“The outcome of the hearing was that Mr Jones was told to pay a total of £18,000,” said a spokesman for the watchdog.

“This was a fine of £10,000 and £8,000 costs.”

Mr Jones had resigned as a district judge and as a member of the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Panel after the case in 2008.

The employment tribunal had heard how he was head of litigation at the legal firm, which was then called Shakespeares.

Mrs Faisal-Parkar, 33, was employed at the firm from April 2004 to May 2007 as a paralegal in the banking litigation team. But she claimed she was subjected to taunts because of her religion and Muslim dress, her solicitor told the hearing.

She claimed a fellow worker told her that she had been nicknamed Mother Teresa because she wore a hijab, which covered her head.

And in another email to a colleague, Mr Jones said: “From where I sit tent ‘ead looks like a flipping nun today unless there are auditions for the Sound of Music on somewhere?”

Mrs Faisal-Parkar said she suffered heavy bleeding while pregnant after climbing up and down on stools searching for files. Doctors told her she could miscarriage if she continued the physical work. But she said when she asked Mr Jones for help in getting files, he called her “lazy”.

In March 2007, when she returned to work after a period of sick leave, Mrs Faisal-Parkar found her possessions in boxes and was given a job she had no experience of.