Top judge accused of 'flashing' is allowed to work on

Lord Justice Richards is reviewing failed immigration and asylum applications as he awaits trial over claims he twice exposed himself to a woman on a train.

He is also considering written applications from those wanting to appeal against civil court rulings.

The controversial decision to allow the married father of three to continue working was approved by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, and Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer.

The £184,000-a-year judge - who is on police bail - denies the allegations. A spokesman for the Judicial Communications Office said: 'The charges faced by him have no bearing on his out-of-court duties.'

He stressed his work was purely a 'desk-top exercise'. 'He is not dealing with cases in the courtroom requiring presentation of evidence and cross-examination,' he added.

Lord Justice Richards, who sits in the Court of Appeal, was held by detectives in January after a passenger made a complaint about a male commuter.

On the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service, he was charged in March with two counts of exposure.

In a further humiliation, he has been forced to pose for a police mugshot, fingerprinted and asked to provide a DNA sample.

The maximum sentence for a first offence of indecent exposure is six months in jail. If convicted, he will be sacked.

A British Transport Police spokesman said the allegations relate to two separate incidents on trains in South-West London last year.

The Right Honourable Sir Stephen Richards, 56, who lives in Wimbledon, was originally arrested following an undercover operation.

The judge was detained on his way to work after the alleged victim picked him out on a train from Wimbledon to Central London.

Accompanied by an undercover detective, the woman identified Sir Stephen as the man who allegedly exposed himself to her last October.

Detectives had no idea that the suspect was a leading judge until they arrested him.

The judge has overseen a number of high-profile hearings and in January ruled in a High Court case brought by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber.

Sitting with Mr Justice Roberts, he said the Crown Prosecution Service's decision not to charge individual officers in connection with his death could be referred to the House of Lords.

The judge and his wife Lucy have two sons and a daughter. He is on full pay and, pending the outcome of the court case, conducts much of his work at home.

s.wright@dailymail.co.uk