Ken Livingstone has won his High Court appeal against a finding that he brought his office into disrepute when he likened a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

A three-man committee of the Adjudication Panel for England had unanimously found London's mayor guilty of being "unnecessarily insensitive and offensive" to Evening Standard newspaper reporter Oliver Finegold.

On Thursday, Mr Justice Collins, sitting in London, ruled that they did not act within their powers and according to law.

Livingstone had spent £250,000 contesting the panel decision and subsequent four-week suspension from office, which he described as "over the top".

He faced disciplinary action following a complaint from the Board of Deputies of British Jews after he refused to apologise for his Nazi jibe.

The panel decided last February the mayor was in breach of the Greater London Authority code of conduct.

He was ordered to be suspended from office for four weeks from March 1.

But the judge had already ruled he should not face suspension, whether or not he brought his office into disrepute.

The Board of Deputies made it clear that it never intended suspension to result from its complaint.