British judge takes heat over rulings

The Telegraph reports the Court of Appeal said Judge Medawar, QC (72), who sits at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London, was slammed by the higher court judges for his ‘peremptory and intemperate language’ when he dismissed the defence of a man he was trying for wounding as ‘rubbish’. Three appeal judges overturned the conviction of Trevor Dickens (39) from Edgware, north London, and ordered a new trial. In another case, they concluded, the judge\'s ‘attitude and conduct towards counsel for the defence was unfair’. The teacher in this case had her convictions for theft and obtaining property by deception quashed. In a third case, the Appeal Court said Judge Medawar had failed to maintain ‘neutrality’, and overturned the conviction of a man sentenced to eight years for causing grievous bodily harm. Full report in The Telegraph