Judges' Pounds 2,900-a-Night Welsh Lodgings Revealed; Plaid MP Calls for Judiciary to Use Hotels Instead of Residences: Even Cheapest Lodgings Could Pay for the Ritz

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Byline: Martin Shipton

TAXPAYERS are paying up to pounds 2,900 a night to house judges at lodgings in Wales, it has been revealed.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that over the past three years, the bill racked up for lodgings in Cardiff and accommodating judges at Caernarfon topped pounds 925,000.

Now Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks, who obtained the figures, is calling on Her Majesty's Courts Service to look at using hotels in Cardiff rather than have an official residence.

At the judges' official residence in Cardiff there are five permanent members of staff: a full-time manager, a chef and three part-time cleaners. In Caernarfon, hotels have been used …