Teesside Judicial Misconduct Scandal Deepens: Judge at the Centre of Numerous Misconduct Allegations Promoted to Top Teesside Role...
- teessidetoday
- Apr 28
- 3 min read
The Civil Judge for Teesside has been handed the top role in one of the areas most corrupt institutions & its drawn considerable questions once again over alleged 'Two Tier Justice' On Teesside.
28th April 2025
A Teesside Civil judge who’s been dogged by multiple misconduct allegations has now been handed the top civil judge job at Teesside Court — with critics saying its yet more proof that Two-Tier Justice is running riot on Teesside.
Durham & Teesside Today can now reveal that District Judge David Robinson — a figure who’s attracted controversy since day one — has now been appointed as the new Designated Civil Judge for Teesside, a move which only come to light recently despite his official appointment on the 19th November 2024. His appointment follows what the institution calls an “Expression of Interest” process — though many are said to be questioning exactly whose interests were served.
Robinson’s murky rise through the ranks has reportedly long raised eyebrows. He was parachuted into the Teesside judiciary in the early 2010s after leaving his post as a special constable with none other than Cleveland Police — itself one of the most disgraced forces in the country — during the reign of the scandal-hit former Police & Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger.
Since taking up his judicial post, Robinson is said to have been embroiled in a litany of complaints and misconduct investigations. One of the most explosive accusations relates to his handling of a gagging order against a Middlesbrough protestor — a campaigner who had been fearlessly exposing shocking revelations about Middlesbrough Borough Council’s Social Services Department.
Robinson’s reputation for bias, heavy-handedness, and, in some cases, downright extremist rulings grew ever darker when he reportedly threatened a vulnerable disabled claimant with contempt of court back in 2024 — merely for trying to secure adequate legal representation in a case they physically couldn’t manage alone. Sources claim the scandal was quietly buried by the Judicial Misconduct Investigations Office, shielding Robinson from public accountability allowing him to march ever upwards towards his trajectory to the top of the Teesside legal system...
Now, its claimed Teesside’s most controversial judge is being rewarded with promotion to one of the area's most corrupt institutions. With only Cleveland Police rivalling Teesside courts for dysfunction and disgrace, Robinson’s elevation is seen by many as the final proof that justice on Teesside is a rigged game, designed to protect the powerful whilst trampling the vulnerable.
Campaign groups and even local critics have slammed the appointment, describing it as "a dangerous precedent" and evidence that Two-Tier Justice is not just alive but thriving across Teesside.
And this isn’t the first time a Teesside top judge has been shuffled out under a cloud of corruption allegations. Mark Gargan, Robinson’s predecessor, was quietly removed from the post after a photograph surfaced showing him cosying up with councillors from local councils across Teesside — whilst one of those councils was said to have been embroiled in civil proceedings against a litigant who Gargan himself then hit with a restraining order.
After Gargan’s antics were finally exposed by a formal complaint to the Judicial Misconduct Investigations Office, it became blindingly clear: Teesside’s judiciary is rotten to the core — and with Robinson now at the helm, judicial misconduct on Teesside's only going to get worse....
