Judge Thomas Ensor’s wife was allowed to remain on the jury for the trial of Gary Val Richardson in Colorado, The Times reports.

However, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Mr Richardson’s subsequent conviction is safe despite the relationship between judge and juror.

In a majority ruling, the court accepted that Judge Ensor “joked about what was for dinner and forcing his wife to spend more time with him”.

Unfortunately for the defendant, he “waived his challenge” by failing to object during jury selection, and the Supreme Court held that Judge Ensor “did not have a duty to excuse juror 25 on his own or to disqualify himself”.