THE JUSTICE Secretary said the “banter of the Town End” had no place in a courtroom.

His comments followed extraordinary scenes on Tuesday during a court hearing, held over video platform Microsoft Teams, concerning ongoing disputes between Swindon Town chairman Lee Power and football agent Michael Standing concerning ownership of the club.

Scores of Town fans had dialled into the remote hearing. The proceedings were interrupted by some of those in the call sharing their screens to show pornographic images, making abusive comments and even muting the barristers and judge.

One of the barristers likened the antics to a “circus” and asked the judge to consider alternative arrangements for future hearings.

Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland, MP for South Swindon, made it clear he couldn’t comment on the individual case.

He told the Adver: “Just because a court is remote doesn’t mean it isn’t a court. Much as the banter of the Town End has its time and its place, it doesn’t have any place in a court.”

Courts have turned to video technology during the pandemic, with criminal courts using a Ministry of Justice-built programme called the Common Video Platform. Civil courts have typically used Microsoft Teams.

Mr Buckland said: “Remote hearings are a really important part of the way we are getting through covid. The number of court hearings has gone into the tens of thousands every week, whereas at the beginning of the pandemic we only had a few hundred.

“That is something that is going to be an essential and probably permanent part of our court system, but at the same time that should never diminish from the fact that it’s still a solemn proceeding whatever the jurisdiction whether it’s civil, criminal or family.”