Sheffield judge tells of scary moment defendant jumped out of dock and went for him

"I thought he was after the jury but it turned out the defendant was after me."
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The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, is talking about a case at Grimsby Crown Court when the defendant jumped over the dock and made straight for him.

"He leapt over the glass partitiion and came towards me," he said. "He got fairly close. The police jumped on him and brought him down. When it happens it's a very frightening experience, particularly for the jury. The rest of us, up to a point, expect these sort of things."

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Another occupational hazard is defendants threatening to kill judges.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QCThe Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC
The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC

Judge Richardson received one himself, after a case was transferred from a different court when the defendant threatened to kill that judge.

"All judges are subject to silly, idle threats - on the whole you pay no attention," he said. "It's a daily diet of dealing with unpleasantness of one type or another. "

The judge deals with it by completely compartmentalising his family life from his professional duties.

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He enjoys walking his dogs and watching comedy or "rubbish" television to relax: "Never anything connected to the law besides the odd detective programme."

He "adores" comedies like Benidorm and Upstart Crow, but really enjoys reading and is currently working his way through a biography of Richard III.

However, he does admit to being "slightly annoyed" by the television caricatures of judges as elderly and out-of-date.

Despite this, the judge enjoys the works of John Mortimer, whom he interviewed as a student, and in particular his most famous comic creation - Rumpole of the Bailey.

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"It makes judges look a bit daft but there's a kernel of truth," he said.

He was inspired to purse a legal career after reading a bigraphy of Norman Birkett QC - a British barrister, judge, politician and preacher who served as the alternate British judge during the Nuremberg Trials - which his father gave him when he was 14.

"I thought "what an interesting career and what a fascinating life.” It encouraged and enthused me to get involved in the law and become a barrister.

"My father was a very wise man and he thought it might suit me down the ground. It did the trick. From an early age I never really wanted to do anything else."

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Judge Richardson was born and grew up in London, but visited his mother's family near Retford and frequently took the number 85 bus to Shefifield when the city was still scarred by bomb sites.

He studied at Queen Mary University of London and spent the first nine years of his professional career in Sheffield. He worked for nine years as a silk and 11 years as a judge before he was designated Recorder of Hull in 2014.

Four years later he moved to Sheffield, to take on the role of resident, or "lead", judge.

As well as working trying the most serious cases, he is also responsible for the court's policies and the listing of cases.

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"I retire in eight years and I don't have any special ambitions," he said. "I really enjoy this job. It's not for the short term - I can't envisage going anywhere else.

"Why would anyone give up a great job ike this? It's a privilege."

Tomorrow he is due to chair a scholarship panel which helps "encourage people from all walks of life" to join the legal profession.

"It doesn't mean however that you have to come from a privileged background to do it. My father was a schoolmaster. It's no longer a profession of the privileged few and it hasn't been for a long time.

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"People come from all sorts of backgrounds. If they're capable and good, they have a future."

A "continual source of concern" for all senior judges are the delays that slow cases from coming to court.

"I am sure we will find a solution," he said, adding that Sheffield is "pretty efficient" once cases arrive and "timeliness figures are of a high order."

He doesn't want to blame the police or the CPS for the delays.

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"They have to work within the system provided," he said. "We must improve the system."

There are pressures, he admits, because the workload is heavy and there aren't limitless resources, so the role of a crown court judge is "hugely demanding".

"Locking someone up is an unpleasant task," he said. "It's a heavy responsibility and never taken lightly.

"The really difficult decisions are those where a person is on the cusp of being sent to prison or not being sent to prison.

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"Helpful guidelines" enable a judge to carry out the delicate "balancing acts" that call for real judgment.

"It doesn't matter how long you have been a judge or what experience you have got. It's still a very weighty decision."

SImilarly, decisions in the family courts, which could lead to the removal of a child from its family, weigh heavily.

"Most are quite difficult decisions and truly require the analysis of evidence and the analysis of judgement," he said. "We have to give reasons for what we do and that necessity concentrates the mind. A whole range of factors have to be put into the mix. It's not an easy task."

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Despite his dignified appearance, he admits to feeling "pretty anxious" when sentencing big cases like murders.

"The adrenaline is heightened and I think it always should be. You should be conscious of the momentous nature of what you're about to announce.

“The court room is filled with people whose lives will be changed by what I am about to announce. How could you not be anything other than anxious? But I have to execute the task with purpose. I would be of no use to anyone if I was a gibbering wreck.

"You must always have a sense of humanity. An understanding of the human condition is a prerequisite."