Richard Page was a lay magistrate sitting on family cases involving adoption. A practising Christian, he opposed adoptions by single parents and same-sex couples as a matter of religious belief. When in 2014 a same-sex couple had applied to adopt a young child, he had told his fellow-magistrates that he had a problem with the application even though it was unopposed and supported by social workers. He later reiterated that position in media interviews. He was disciplined and, finally, removed from the Magistracy in March 2016.

He was also a Non-Executive Director of an NHS Trust, and after the disciplinary action against him as a magistrate had been reported in the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail Online in January 2015, he had taken part in a live radio phone-in on Radio Kent without warning the Trust in advance. He had been suspended and, ultimately, his appointment was not renewed.

He claimed direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of religious belief and victimisation; Continue reading →