A judicial office investigation has found a senior judge’s behaviour amounted to ‘serious misconduct’ after he made misleading diary entries.

Senior master Steven Whitaker (pictured), who was also the Queen’s Remembrancer, voluntarily resigned from his post last month.

In a statement released today, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said Whitaker made ‘misleading entries’ in his Outlook diary ‘with the intent to mislead anyone who might scrutinise the record’.

The statement added: ‘The lord chancellor and the chancellor of the High Court (on behalf of the lord chief justice) concluded that this behaviour amount to serious misconduct and would have removed the senior master from office had he not voluntarily resigned.’

According to the judicial office website, Whitaker, 64, had held the two senior posts since October 2007.

He case managed multi-party, group and other complex litigation and also controlled the central body for the taking of evidence from and to the European Union.

He was also a member of the civil procedure rule committee from 2002 to 2008 and recently chaired a working party set up to recommend practices in relation to e-disclosure.