Maverick Magistrate Edward King has not been moved as a punishment measure, said Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner.

He said Mr. King had been moved from Magistrates' Court One to civil court as part of a standard reshuffle.

A further change is likely when Mr. Warner returns from a spell in Supreme Court next month.

Mr. Warner said: "It's the right of the Senior Magistrate to transfer magistrates from time to time, as he sees fit.

Mr. Warner denied the replacement of Mr. King as Acting Senior Magistrate by Carlisle Greaves was a demotion.

"This is a normal shift, this is not a demotion, it should not be seen as such. It is nothing to do with the investigation into Mr. King. I have absolutely nothing to do with that. Officially, I know nothing about it."

Last week court sources said Mr. King had been demoted after complaints about his behaviour.

But Magistrates' Court administration officer Tracey Kelly said magistrates liked to be moved around for the variety, instead of getting bogged down in specialist courts such as family court and civil court.

Chief Justice Austin Ward is currently reviewing a dossier of complaints against Mr. King, including that he is rude to lawyers and the public.

Bar Association president Trevor Moniz said Mr. King's scheduled spell away from the high profile plea court duties was a good move.

And he called for a decision to be made on the judicial appointments. Both Archibald Warner and Charles-Etta Simmons are due to finish their spells as acting Supreme Court judges at the end of this month.

And he claimed a new appointment for someone to head up the high-profile Thyssen case was being delayed because the Government didn't have the money in the budget to replace previous judge Denis Mitchell.

Mr. Justice Mitchell resigned from the billion-dollar trust case in March but has remained on the Island doing routine in-chambers hearings until his contract runs out in November 30.

Mr. Moniz said: "He's still clogging up the works."

However Deputy Governor Tim Gurney said that lawyers were not keen to restart the case until September.

And he said that he understood money was not a problem and that the case could start again as soon as a suitable judge was found.

However on further appointments to the Supreme Court bench he said: "Outside the Thyssen case we are not actively looking for anybody."