A COUNTY court judge's career could be ruined after he was found guilty of being drunk and disorderly in a kebab shop.

Magistrates convicted David Messenger, 49, of Valley Bridge Parade, Scarborough, of obstructing two police officers, causing criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly in St Thomas' Street in the town in the early hours of May 2.

He was fined £800 by Selby magistrates, with £6168.75 in court costs. He was also ordered to pay £188 in compensation for a bell button he had broken in his cell at Scarborough Police Station.

After the hearing he continued to maintain his innocence, but Messenger, who sat at county courts including York, Harrogate and Leeds, could now be dismissed from his role as a district judge by the Lord Chancellor.

Steven Turner, for Messenger, said: "The evidence of those few minutes in the kebab shop will clearly spell the end of any judicial aspirations this man may have had."

Messenger said he planned to appeal against his conviction and hoped to continue his 20-year career as a solicitor, running a firm in Scarborough, which employs eight people.

He said: "I have maintained my innocence throughout and I still do. My family, friends and the general public's response has been very good indeed."

A Law Society spokesman said that disciplinary procedures against Messenger were inevitable and could lead to him being unable to practice law.

A spokesman from the Department of Constitutional Affairs, formerly the Lord Chancellor's department, said it could not comment on individual cases. But he said in situations such as these an investigation would be launched into the judge's conduct, and the Lord Chancellor would decide whether to allow them to continue to serve as a judge.

Presiding magistrate Marilyn Jones told Messenger: "You have let not only yourself down but also your profession."

Updated: 10:27 Tuesday, September 30, 2003