A justice watchdog is considering whether to investigate the judge in the Stuart Kerner case following comments she made about the victim “grooming” the former Bexleyheath Academy vice-principal.

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office revealed it has received a number of complaints about Judge Joanna Greenberg QC’s handling of Kerner’s sentence for an affair with a pupil.

Judge Greenberg was widely criticised yesterday for the sentence she handed down on Wednesday (Jan 14) and her comments which suggested the victim “groomed” the married father-of-one.

A spokesman for the JCIO told News Shopper: “Complaints been received about Judge Joanna Greenberg QC and it will be considered whether she has breached regulations.”

Judge Greenberg was accused of being “too lenient” with the former religious studies teacher, who escaped jail for his affair.

She told the packed courtroom: “It is a tragedy that somebody like you committed offences of this nature and has come to be sentenced.

“The victim pursued you and formed an attachment to you that was not something that you sought.

“Her friends describe her as stalking you.

“What makes this case so different from the many cases of this type is I find no evidence that you groomed or encouraged the victim into a relationship and if grooming is the right word to use, it was she who groomed you and you gave way to temptation at a time when you were emotionally vulnerable because your wife had suffered a miscarriage.”

A spokeswoman from Family Matters, a Gravesend-based charity which helps victims of abuse and rape, criticised Judge Greenberg's comments.

The charity’s clinical director Mary Trevillion told News Shopper: “I don’t think ‘grooming’ is the right word for this. This judge clearly doesn’t know what grooming is.

“He broke the law – it’s the law and there’s no other interpretation of it.

“I also desperately hope this does not put off girls coming forward in the future.”

Kerner, 44, was given eight months for his first conviction for sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust and 10 for the second at Inner London Crown Court. The consecutive sentences were suspended for 18 months.

The father-of-one, from Aylesford, was found guilty on December 5 after a trial lasting more than two weeks.

He was found not guilty on four counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, and of two further counts of sexual activity with a child.

Prosecutor Warwick Tatford told the court Kerner took the teenager’s virginity on a yoga mat in an empty room at Bexleyheath Academy on February 28, 2012, the same week his wife miscarried their second child.

The Attorney General's office had considered whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal for being too “unduly lenient” but revealed yesterday the case lay outside the scope of the scheme.

A spokeswoman said yesterday: “After a number of complaints, we carefully considered whether Stuart Kerner’s sentence could be referred to the court of appeal for being too low – as part of the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

“Mr Kerner’s crimes are not included in this scheme, meaning the law officers are unable to refer this.

“However, it’s important that the public can challenge what they believe to be exceptionally low sentences.  We have been looking at whether the scope of the current scheme is right.”