The current situation.
Judges in the UK legal system act at present with impunity, judges decisions cannot be challenged! An appeal can only be sought on points of law, and then the normal starting point is to ask that same judge if you can challenge their decision! How insane is that? It is no accident that it is this way, the costs of launching an appeal are made artificially astronomic and the chances of three judges agreeing with you that their colleague has made an error is remote. As a result of this, judges know they can make decisions based on their own agenda with little fear of being challenged.
A person can only make a complaint against a judge based on their behaviour! I believe it is a fine line between their behaviour and their bad decision making. As a result of these rogue judges, peoples lives are ruined, and in the worst cases people suffer extremes of violence or even death, but do you see a judge being taken to task over this? NO.
I hope from now on that these bad judges can be identified and named and shamed for all the public to see.
In Early 2011 I watched BBC journalist, Victoria Derbyshire, interview John and Penny Clough. Their daughter, Jane, had been brutally murdered by a man (Jonathan Vass) who had been let out on bail after being charged with raping her 9 times. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00fkt06) That Judge, Simon Newell, still sits at Burnley Crown Court. He never faced any reprimand! Has his conscience pricked him to issue a public apology. No.
That interview moved me, and it is incidents like that, that made me determined to start this project.
One day a defendant or barrister will stand up in court and challenge a rogue judge to step down from a case owing to their abysmal track record of poor or even criminally wrong decisions. Maybe then, this will all have been worth the effort.
A person can only make a complaint against a judge based on their behaviour! I believe it is a fine line between their behaviour and their bad decision making. As a result of these rogue judges, peoples lives are ruined, and in the worst cases people suffer extremes of violence or even death, but do you see a judge being taken to task over this? NO.
I hope from now on that these bad judges can be identified and named and shamed for all the public to see.
In Early 2011 I watched BBC journalist, Victoria Derbyshire, interview John and Penny Clough. Their daughter, Jane, had been brutally murdered by a man (Jonathan Vass) who had been let out on bail after being charged with raping her 9 times. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00fkt06) That Judge, Simon Newell, still sits at Burnley Crown Court. He never faced any reprimand! Has his conscience pricked him to issue a public apology. No.
That interview moved me, and it is incidents like that, that made me determined to start this project.
One day a defendant or barrister will stand up in court and challenge a rogue judge to step down from a case owing to their abysmal track record of poor or even criminally wrong decisions. Maybe then, this will all have been worth the effort.