A magistrate who used social media to criticise a defendant in a high-profile court case has been reprimanded.

Paul Fisher, who regularly sits at Basildon Magistrates' court, was investigated following a complaint to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO).

Detail of the investigation has emerged in a statement published on the JCIO website.

A JCIO spokesman said in the statement that Mr Fisher "made a social media post" which "strongly criticised the defendant in a high-profile court case".

The spokesman said Mr Fisher, who was not hearing the case, allowed the post to be "shared more widely".

He said Lord Chancellor David Gauke and a High Court judge acting on behalf of Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett had concluded that Mr Fisher's actions "risked damaging confidence in his impartiality and bringing the judiciary into disrepute".

They had given Mr Fisher formal advice.

The statement does not say where Mr Fisher is based but he has previously sat on the bench at preliminary hearings for convicted killers Geoffrey Hutton and Steven Keeble.

The statement said: "Mr Paul Fisher JP has been subject to an investigation into his conduct.

"Mr Fisher made a social media post that strongly criticised the defendant in a high-profile court case, and he allowed the post to be shared more widely.

"Mr Fisher was not presiding in the case.

"The Lord Chancellor and Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb DBE, on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice, concluded that, although Mr Fisher did not identify himself as a judicial officer-holder in the post, his actions risked damaging confidence in his impartiality and bringing the judiciary into disrepute.

"They have given Mr Fisher formal advice."

A JCIO spokesman later said that Mr Fisher heard cases at magistrates' courts in south Essex.