HOWZAT

Driza said she later asked for "compensation" for the way she had been treated, claiming: "Racism and discrimination. My distress and the calling of names and the bad words. All the damage - psychological. There is no money that could pay."

When she rang Miss J to ask why she was sacked, she said the judge started shouting. "She had lost control. She shouted ‘F****** Brazilian bitch. F****** dirty woman’ and switched off."

She told the court that Mr Khan had urged her to leave the country after she was arrested. "Mr I said I could not help him by running away to help him out of a mess."

She also said Mr Khan had asked her to do porno movies with him.

But the prosecution alleged that after their relationship cooled, she stole the intimate videos of him and blackmailed him.

The cleaner also tried to blackmail Miss J. She threatened to expose both judges to their "boss", the Lord Chancellor, unless she was paid £20,000 by Miss J.

"She saw an opportunity to make money by threatening two people who were in sensitive positions - threatening them about their private lives," said David Markham, prosecuting.

He said: "It needs little emphasis that blackmail develops and thrives where there is human vulnerability and weakness, It does not flourish among angels and saints.

"It takes root where flesh and blood people - including judges - decidedly fall from grace and err. This allegation is not an appeal for sympathy for Miss J and Mr I. Each of them, you may think, got themselves into the very uncomfortable situations with the defendant.

"Each, with more care, might have avoided more lurid scenarios... each of them became prey to blackmail."

Mr Markham said that Driza had to find ways of applying pressure on Miss J.

Driza retorted in court: "If there was pressure, it was on me. I am here in this court. I am not British. I have nothing to answer for. The world may think I am guilty. I have nothing to hide and God knows I am not guilty."

The Brazilian said she intended to give back the videos she stole on the day before she was arrested and had wanted an explanation rather than money from Miss J on why she had been sacked.

According to the website of the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, Mr Khan has been a member of its board for several years, and has organised briefing sessions for British and US lawyers on issues such as the persecution of Ahmadi Muslims, the increasing religious violence in Pakistan and elsewhere, and the impact of that persecution on immigration and asylum courts.

As a practising barrister, before he became a judge, he is believed to have had much experience at United Nations human rights forums where he specialised in the issue of religious intolerance.

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