Melford Stevenson
Sir Melford Stevenson | |
---|---|
Justice of the High Court | |
In office 1 October 1957 – 23 April 1979 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson 17 October 1902 Newquay, Cornwall, England |
Died | 26 December 1987 St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England | (aged 85)
Spouses | Anna Cecilia Francesca Imelda Reinstein
(m. 1929; div. 1942)Rosalind Monica Wagner
(m. 1947) |
Children | 3 |
Education | Dulwich College University of London |
Sir Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson, PC (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987), usually known as Sir Melford Stevenson, was an English barrister and, later, a High Court judge, whose judicial career was marked by his controversial conduct and outspoken views.
After establishing a legal career in the field of
Stevenson became a High Court judge in 1957, and acquired a reputation for severity in sentencing. He sentenced the
One of his fellow judges,
Early life
Stevenson was born in
Career at the bar
Shortly after being called to the bar in 1925 he joined the chambers of Wintringham Stable[2] at 2 Crown Office Row,[5] now Fountain Court Chambers.[6] He remained there for the rest of his legal career, save for the war years,[2] eventually becoming head of chambers.[7]
Most of Stevenson's early legal work was in the field of insolvencies, "almost always with small fees", and he made steady progress until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. He did very little criminal work in this part of his career.[2] In 1940 he joined the army and served until 1945 as a Deputy Judge Advocate with the rank of major;[8] he was appointed a King's Counsel in 1943.[9] In 1945 he served as Judge Advocate at the war crimes trial in Hamburg of former personnel of the German submarine U-852, the so-called Peleus affair.[10][11] The U-boat captain, Heinz-Wilhelm Eck, was accused of ordering his crew to open fire on the survivors of a Greek ship, the SS Peleus, which they had just torpedoed and sunk. Eck and two of his junior officers were executed by firing squad;[12] he was the only U-boat commander of the war to be convicted of war crimes committed at sea.[13]
In the late 1940s and early 1950s Stevenson started to build his chambers' high reputation for commercial litigation, together with
According to fellow judge Eustace Roskill, Stevenson's "fluent delivery, distinctive voice, remarkable sense of timing, and pungency of phrase soon marked him out as an advocate of note."[2] One commentator described him as a "shameless performer" in court. He was probably the most successful barrister of his day.[20]
In 1955, aided by junior counsel Sebag Shaw and Peter Rawlinson, Stevenson defended Ruth Ellis against the charge of murdering her lover. Stevenson's decision to keep his cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses to a minimum,[21] and his "near silent performance in court",[22] have been severely criticised by Muriel Jakubait, Ellis's sister. He opened the defence by saying: "Let me make this abundantly plain: there is no question here but this woman shot this man ... You will not hear one word from me – or from the lady herself – questioning that."[23] The jury took 23 minutes to find Ellis guilty;[24] she was sentenced to be hanged, the last woman executed for murder in the United Kingdom.[2] Public revulsion at the case is thought to have played a part in the abolition of capital punishment in the UK in 1969.[16][a]
Stevenson was a leading member of the legal team assisting Sir
Judicial career
... without knowing what bodies, political or other, Melford belonged to, it would be safe to say that he was on the right wing of all of them.[3]
Bathurst [
Viscount Bledisloe] used to recount the story of Stevenson trying a manslaughter case in which a man who had run over a child pleaded, in extenuation, that he had thought the child was a dog; the judge, a great spaniel lover, promptly gave him the maximum sentence.[5]
I must confess I cannot tell whether you are innocent or guilty. I am giving you three years. If you are guilty you have got off lightly, if innocent let this be a lesson to you.[29]
—Sir Melford Stevenson
Stevenson was appointed a
Following a 1964 parallel of his comments in the wake of the Bodkin Adams case, Stevenson attracted criticism for his summing up to the jury in the case of Ryan:[38]
It is, we think, clear ... that it is wrong to say to a jury "Because the accused exercised what is undoubtedly his right, the privilege of remaining silent, you may draw an inference of guilt"; it is quite a different matter to say "this accused, as he is entitled to do, has not advanced at an earlier stage the explanation that has been offered to you today; you the jury may take that into account when you are assessing the weight that you think it right to attribute to the explanation."[39]
The academic lawyer Rupert Cross described Stevenson's pronouncement as "gibberish", and to the Court of Appeal in 1977 it seemed that Stevenson had made a distinction "without a difference".[39] Although Stevenson's direction was not in accordance with the law in 1964, Parliament introduced a form of caution under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 that reflects what he proposed. His earlier suggestion that defendants in criminal trials should be forced to answer prosecution questions has not been adopted.
Stevenson believed that it was the judge's duty to help prevent crime by imposing robust punishments on those found guilty,[2] and he became noted for the severity of his sentencing, which led to occasional calls from the "liberal establishment" for his resignation.[37] In 1969 he sentenced the Kray twins, Reggie and Ronnie, to a minimum of 30 years in jail each, saying, "In my view, society has earned a rest from your activities."[33] He remarked later that the Krays had only told the truth twice during the trial: when Reggie referred to a barrister as "a fat slob" and when Ronnie accused the judge of being biased.[36]
In 1970 he controversially gave what were seen as excessively long sentences to eight Cambridge University students who took part in the
Stevenson turned down a chance to join the
But Eustace Roskill cautions that "It would be wrong to judge Stevenson simply by the notoriety of a few cases .... he showed great mercy to those whom he saw to be victims rather than aggressors."[2] In the early 1970s, while conducting training sessions in sentencing for newly appointed recorders, Stevenson summed up his attitude: "You sentence off the top of your head. If the man's a shit, down he goes. If there's something to be said for him, you do your best not to put him inside."[46] Despite his stern and authoritarian reputation, in the 1970s he sometimes submitted letters to the Court of Appeal supporting the reduction of his sentences.[2]
When asked towards the end of his career whether he had been stung by the criticism he had received, Stevenson replied "A lot of my colleagues are just constipated Methodists".[41] There was no compulsory retirement age for a judge with Stevenson's length of service, which resulted in some speculation following the announcement of his retirement from the bench in 1979 that perhaps his unpopularity with certain sections of the media and establishment had led to pressure on him to step down.[44]
In an article published on the day of Stevenson's retirement, Corinna Adam of The Guardian observed that:
He [Stevenson] holds the record among Old Bailey judges for having his sentences queried and taken to appeal. He also holds the record for getting away with it. He has gradually become such a stock hate-figure that lawyers tend automatically to advise their clients, if found guilty, to take their cases higher up.[44]
Personal life
Stevenson married Anna Cecilia Francesca Imelda Reinstein, daughter of a Bavarian hairdresser,
After the war, Stevenson stood as the Conservative Party candidate to represent Maldon in the 1945 United Kingdom general election. He opened his campaign by declaring that in the interests of a clean fight, he would make no allusions to the "alleged homosexuality" of his opponent, Tom Driberg,[36] who heavily defeated him in the vote; Stevenson returned to his legal practice the following year.[2]
Despite his severe manner, Stevenson was extremely sociable and he was often the centre of a lively crowd at the bar of the Garrick Club,[2] of which he was a member.[32] His home at Winchelsea on the Sussex coast was called Truncheons, sometimes taken to reflect his authoritarian views,[2] but the area had been known by that name for many years before his arrival.[51] Following his retirement, Stevenson called for the restoration of the death penalty for all murders,[41] and made frequent guest appearances on television until his health and eyesight began to fail.[2] Among the programmes he took part in was Granada Television's six-part series The Bounds of Freedom, broadcast in 1979.[52]
Stevenson died in St Leonards on 26 December 1987.[2] A memorial tablet to him and his wife was erected in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Rye, in 1992.[53]
References
Notes
- ^ The 1965 Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act abolished the death penalty for murder. The last hangings were in 1964.
- ^ All eight of the students found guilty of at least one offence received custodial sentences ranging from nine to eighteen months; those under 21 were sent to borstal rather than prison.[40]
- ^ All but one of the sentences were upheld on appeal.[40]
- ^ Stevenson made his comment while sentencing a 61-year-old man to five years in prison for homosexual acts involving teenagers: "Cases such as these are all the more grave in these days because some years ago Parliament committed itself to pass a buggers' charter ...".[44]
Citations
- ^ a b
Retired judges rally to the defence of Melford Stevenson. Gale Group, Gale Document Number:CJ115648418 (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "Stevenson, Sir (Aubrey) Melford Steed (1902–1987)", required.)
- ^ a b Devlin 1986, p. 38
- ^
Moriss, A. J. A. (2004), "Steed, Henry Wickham (1871–1956)", doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36260, retrieved 1 September 2012 (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b Viscount Bledisloe, Telegraph Media Group, 29 June 2009, retrieved 29 July 2012
- ^ Dowell, Katy (20 September 2010), "Lord Bingham, 1933–2010", The Lawyer, retrieved 20 July 2012
- ^ Sir Peter Webster, Telegraph Media Group, 6 May 2009, retrieved 29 July 2012
- ^ a b c "Sir Melford Stevenson: An outstanding and outspoken judge", The Times, no. 62962, p. 10, 28 December 1987, retrieved 23 July 2012
- ^ "No. 36069", The London Gazette, 25 June 1943, p. 2899
- ^ Messimer, Dwight R., Heinz-Wilhelm Eck Siegerjustiz and the Peleus Affair, uboat.net, retrieved 9 July 2012
- ^ United Nations War Crimes Commission (1947). "Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals" (PDF). His Majesty's Stationery Office. pp. 1–20. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ Solis 2010, p. 268
- ^ The Only War Criminal, uboat.net, retrieved 29 July 2012
- ^ History at fountaincourt.co.uk, accessed 8 March 2019
- ^ "No. 39610", The London Gazette, 29 July 1952, p. 4075
- ^ a b c "Sir Melford Stevenson, A Judge and Barrister", The New York Times, 30 December 1987, retrieved 29 July 2012
- ^ Anderson 2005, p. 66
- ^ "BBC On This Day – 1953: Seven years' hard labour for Kenyatta", BBC Online, 8 April 1953, retrieved 1 September 2012
- ^ Cooke 2003, p. 330
- ^ John Platts-Mills, Telegraph Media Group, 27 October 2001, retrieved 20 July 2012
- ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, p. 136
- ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, p. 210
- ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, p. 207
- ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, back cover
- ^ Hallworth & Williams 1983, p. 241
- ^ Devlin 1986, pp. 180–182
- ^ Hallworth & Williams 1983, p. 242.
- ^ a b Hallworth & Williams 1983, pp. 232–233
- ^ Regan, Dominic (21 January 2011), "Strange but True", New Law Journal, retrieved 21 July 2012
- ^ "No. 41192", The London Gazette, 4 October 1957, p. 5761
- ^ "No. 41200", The London Gazette, 11 October 1957, p. 5921
- ^ a b "STEVENSON, Rt. Hon. Sir (Aubrey) Melford (Steed)", Who Was Who (online ed.), Oxford University Press, December 2007, retrieved 6 September 2012
- ^ a b "Kray decision attacked", BBC News, 7 May 1998, retrieved 29 July 2012
- ^ Berlins, Marcel (19 December 2007), "Men accused of rape are being wrongly acquitted – thanks to jurors who think like John Redwood", Guardian News and Media, retrieved 29 July 2012
- ^ "Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill: Order for Second Reading", Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 13 February 1976, retrieved 20 July 2012
- ^ a b c d Massingberd 2001, p. 32
- ^ a b Massingberd 2001, p. 31
- ^ Ryan (1964) 50 Cr App R 144, at 148
- ^ a b "Spiking the judge's guns when defendants are silent: part 2", Law Society Gazette, 2 December 1987, archived from the original on 20 April 2013, retrieved 7 September 2012
- ^ a b Ham Bevan, William (23 November 2010), "The Varsity protest that shaped a generation", The Independent, archived from the original on 12 May 2022, retrieved 20 July 2012
- ^ a b c Massingberd 2001, p. 33
- ^ "'Trick questions' protest at Carr bomb trial", Glasgow Herald, 25 November 1971, retrieved 17 July 2012
- ^ "No. 45860", The London Gazette (Supplement), 29 December 1972, p. 1
- ^ a b c
Adam, Corinna (10 April 1979), "Goodbye to the Garden House judge", The Guardian, ProQuest 186131028(subscription required)
- ^ Coote 1993, p. 140
- ^ Baker 2005, p. 152.
- ^ "British WWII Spymaster Dies At Age 90". AP News archive. 20 April 1992.
- ^ "Obituary of Cecile Robinson", Telegraph Media Group, 9 February 2007, retrieved 13 July 2012
- required.)
- ^ Massingberd 2001, p. 34
- ^ Cooper 1850, p. 112
- ^ "The State of the Nation: The Bounds of Freedom: The Treatment of Rape in a TV Drama", British Film Institute, archived from the original on 3 December 2013, retrieved 8 September 2012
- ^ "Memorial Services", The Times, no. 64241, p. 12, 29 January 1992, retrieved 23 July 2012 (subscription required)
Bibliography
- Anderson, David (2005), Histories of the Hanged: Britain's Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-297-84719-9
- Baker, John (2005), Ballot Box to Jury Box: The Life and Times of an English Crown Court Judge, Waterside Press, ISBN 978-1-904380-19-1
- Cooke, Elizabeth, ed. (2003), Modern Studies in Property Law, vol. 2, Hart Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84113-173-3
- Cooper, William Durrant (1850), A History of Winchelsea (Google eBooks ed.), John Russell Smith
- Coote, John O. (1993), Altering Course: A Submariner in Fleet Street, Pen & Sword Books, ISBN 978-0-85052-348-5
- Devlin, Patrick (1986), Easing the Passing: The Trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams, Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-13993-4
- Hallworth, Rodney; Williams, Mark (1983), Where There's a Will... The Sensational Life of Dr John Bodkin Adams, Capstan Press, ISBN 978-0-946797-00-4
- Jakubait, Muriel; Weller, Monica (2005), Ruth Ellis, My Sister's Secret Life, Robinson, ISBN 978-1-84529-119-8
- Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (2001) [1987], "Sir Melford Stevenson", The Very Best of the Daily Telegraph Books of Obituaries, Pan Books, pp. 31–34, ISBN 978-0-330-48470-1
- Solis, Gary D. (2010), The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law In War, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-87088-7