Jump to content

Melford Stevenson

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Diannaa (talk | contribs) at 13:48, 29 July 2012 ({{good article}}). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Photograph
Melford Stevenson, 1945

Sir Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson PC (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987) was an English barrister and from 1957 a High Court judge. During the Second World War he served as a Deputy Judge Advocate, and subsequently as Judge Advocate at the 1945 war crimes trial of former officers of the German submarine U-852 for their actions in what became known as the Peleus affair. All five defendants were found guilty and three, including the captain, were executed by firing squad.

In 1955 Stevenson unsuccessfully defended Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed for murder in the United Kingdom, and two years later took part in the unsuccessful prosecution of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams; he has been criticised for his conduct of both trials.

Appointed a High Court judge in 1957, Stevenson became known for the severity of his sentencing. Among the cases he presided over was that of the Kray twins, notorious gangsters whom he sentenced to life imprisonment in 1969 with a recommendation that they serve not less than 30 years each. Stevenson had a reputation for being authoritarian and outspoken. Retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Robin Dunn called him "the worst judge since the war", prompting several high-profile legal figures to come to Stevenson's defence,[1] among them fellow High Court judge and biographer Eustace Roskill, who pointed out that Stevenson could be merciful to those he perceived to be victims.[2] Lord Devlin described Stevenson as the "last of the grand eccentrics".[3]

Stevenson retired from the bench in 1979. He died at St Leonards in East Sussex on 26 December 1987.

Early life

Stevenson was born in Newquay, Cornwall, on 17 October 1902, the eldest child of the Reverend George Stevenson and his wife Olive (née Steed). Stevenson's father, a Congregational minister, died when his son was fourteen years old, plunging the family into economic distress. An uncle who was a solicitor stepped in and funded Stevenson's ongoing education at Dulwich College in London, intending that he would join the family firm once his school education was complete. There was no money available to allow him to attend university, so instead Stevenson studied for an external London University LLB degree after becoming an articled clerk in his uncle's legal practice. He was determined to become a barrister, and joined the Inner Temple, of which he became the treasurer in 1972. Shortly after being called to the bar in 1925 he joined the chambers of Wintringham Stable[2] at 2 Crown Office Row,[4] now Fountain Court Chambers.[5] He remained there for the rest of his legal career except for the war years,[2] eventually becoming head of chambers himself.[6]

Early career

During the Second World War, from 1940 until 1945, Stevenson served as a Deputy Judge Advocate with the rank of major;[7] he was appointed a King's Counsel in 1943.[8] In 1945 he served as Judge Advocate at the war crimes trial in Hamburg of former officers of the German submarine U-852, the so-called Peleus affair.[9] 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;[10] he was the only U-boat commander of the Second World War to be convicted of war crimes.[11]

Stevenson was elected a bencher of the Inner Temple in 1950,[7] and appointed Recorder of Cambridge, a part-time judge, in 1952.[12] Two years later he represented the British Government in Kenya during Jomo Kenyatta's unsuccessful appeal against his conviction for involvement in Mau Mau activities.[13] 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.[14]

Notable cases as a barrister

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 "subject the prosecution witnesses to a minimum of cross-examination",[15] and his "near silent performance in court",[16] 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."[17] The jury took 23 minutes to find Ellis guilty;[18] she was sentenced to be hanged, the last woman executed for murder in the United Kingdom.[2]

Stevenson was a leading member of the legal team assisting Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller during the failed prosecution of alleged serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams in 1957. The prosecution's conduct of the trial has been heavily criticised,[19] and its decision to drop a second murder charge via a nolle prosequi was scathingly described by the trial judge, Patrick Devlin, as "an abuse of process".[20] Stevenson was of the opinion that had he been allowed to, he "could have successfully prosecuted Adams on six murder counts".[21] Journalist Rodney Hallworth reports that Stevenson said of Adams' decision not to give evidence in court that "I firmly believe justice is not served by the present law. It should be possible for the prosecution to directly examine an accused ... It was a clear example of the privilege of silence having enabled a guilty man to escape." In his opinion Adams "was so incredibly lucky to have literally got away with murder".[22]

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]

—Lord Devlin

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.[4]

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.[23]

—Melford Stevenson

Stevenson was appointed a High Court judge on 1 October 1957,[24] and (as is traditional) was knighted a few days later.[25] For the first four years he was assigned to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division, but after his transfer to the Queen's Bench Division he began to attract press attention.[7] Known for his outspokenness,[26] Stevenson described one case as a "pretty anaemic kind of rape", because the victim was the accused's ex-girlfriend[27] and had been hitch-hiking, before sentencing the man to a two-year suspended sentence.[28] To a man acquitted of rape he remarked "I see you come from Slough. It is a terrible place. You can go back there."[29] In similar vein he told a husband involved in a divorce case that his decision to live in Manchester was "a wholly incomprehensible choice for any free man to make".[30]

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.[30] 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."[26] 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.[29]

In 1970 he controversially gave what were seen as excessively long sentences to eight Cambridge University students who took part in the Garden House riot, a demonstration against the Greek military government that turned violent.[13][a] He noted that the sentences would have been even longer but for the students' exposure to "the evil influence of some members of the university".[32] The following year he gave a 15-year sentence to Jake Prescott, a member of the Angry Brigade, for conspiracy to cause explosions. Prescott had been found not guilty of direct involvement in the bombings, but had admitted to addressing three envelopes.[33][34]

Stevenson was appointed a Privy Counsellor in the 1973 New Year Honours.[35] He referred to the Sexual Offences Act 1967 as a "buggers' charter", earning him a reprimand from the Lord Chancellor Elwyn Jones and a parliamentary motion in the UK House of Commons calling for his resignation.[29] When asked towards the end of his career whether he had been stung by the criticism he had received, he replied "A lot of my colleagues are just constipated Methodists".[32]

Despite Stevenson's stern and authoritarian reputation, fellow High Court judge and biographer 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."[36]

Stevenson retired from the bench in 1979,[2] following which he called for the restoration of the death penalty for all murders.[32][b]

Personal life

Stevenson married Anna Cecilia Francesca Imelda in 1929.[2] He "turned her [his wife] out" after he discovered that she had been having an affair with Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, head of the French section of the Special Operations Executive,[37] and they were divorced in 1942. They had one daughter. He married his second wife, Rosalind Monica[2] (née Wagner),[38] in 1947, and together they had a son – who also became a barrister – and a daughter.[2]

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,[29] who heavily defeated him in the vote; Stevenson returned to his legal practice the following year.[2]

Stevenson's home on the Sussex coast was called Truncheons: although that was sometimes taken to reflect his authoritarian views,[2] the area had been known by that name for many years before his arrival.[39] He died at St Leonards on 26 December 1987.[2] A memorial tablet to Stevenson and his wife was erected in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Rye in 1992.[40]

References

Notes

  1. ^ 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.[31]
  2. ^ The 1965 Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act had abolished the death penalty for murder.

Citations

  1. ^ Retired judges rally to the defence of Melford Stevenson. The Times, p.5, 1 November 1994 from The Times Digital Archive, Gale Group, Gale Document Number:CJ115648418 (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Roskill (2004), "Stevenson, Sir (Aubrey) Melford Steed (1902–1987)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, retrieved 8 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  3. ^ a b Devlin 1986, p. 38
  4. ^ a b "Viscount Bledisloe", Telegraph Media Group, 29 June 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/5689269/Viscount-Bledisloe.html, retrieved 29 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ Dowell, Katy (20 September 2010), "Lord Bingham, 1933–2010", The Lawyer, retrieved 20 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Sir Peter Webster", Telegraph Media Group, 6 May 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/5286771/Sir-Peter-Webster.html, retrieved 29 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ a b c "Sir Melford Stevenson: An outstanding and outspoken judge", The Times, no. 62962, p. 10, 28 December, retrieved 23 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)(subscription required)
  8. ^ "No. 36069". The London Gazette. 25 June 1943. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Messimer, Dwight R., "Heinz-Wilhelm Eck Siegerjustiz and the Peleus Affair", uboat.net http://uboat.net/articles/18.html, retrieved 9 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ^ Solis 2010, p. 268
  11. ^ "The Only War Criminal", uboat.net http://www.uboataces.com/articles-war-criminal.shtml, retrieved 29 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ^ "No. 39610". The London Gazette. 29 July 1952. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ a b "Sir Melford Stevenson, A Judge and Barrister", The New York Times, retrieved 29 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. ^ "John Platts-Mills", The Telegraph, 27 October 2001, retrieved 20 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  15. ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, p. 136
  16. ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, p. 210
  17. ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, p. 207
  18. ^ Jakubait & Weller 2005, back cover
  19. ^ Hallworth & Williams 1983, p. 241
  20. ^ Devlin 1986, pp. 180–182
  21. ^ Hallworth & Williams 1983, p. 242.
  22. ^ Hallworth & Williams 1983, pp. 232–233
  23. ^ Regan, Dominic (21 January 2011), "Strange but True", New Law Journal, retrieved 21 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  24. ^ "No. 41192". The London Gazette. 4 October 1957. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "No. 41200". The London Gazette. 11 October 1957. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ a b "Kray decision attacked", BBC News, 7 May 1998 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/88883.stm, retrieved 29 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. ^ 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 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2229629,00.html, retrieved 29 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. ^ "Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill: Order for Second Reading", millbanksystems.com http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1976/feb/13/sexual-offences-amendment-bill, retrieved 20 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. ^ a b c d Massingberd 2001, p. 32
  30. ^ a b Massingberd 2001, p. 31
  31. ^ Ham Bevan, William (23 November 2010), "The Varsity protest that shaped a generation", The Independent, retrieved 20 July 2010 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  32. ^ a b c Massingberd 2001, p. 33
  33. ^ "'Trick questions' protest at Carr bomb trial", Glasgow Herald, 25 November 1971, retrieved 17 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  34. ^ "Social Services chief's husband was drug-addicted violent terrorist", Mail Online, 14 December 2008 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1094490/Social-Services-chiefs-husband-drug-addicted-violent-terrorist.html, retrieved 17 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  35. ^ "No. 45860". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 29 December 1972. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ Baker 2005, p. 152.
  37. ^ "Obituary of Cecile Robinson", Telegraph Media Group, 9 February 2007 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1542001/Cecile-Robinson.html, retrieved 13 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  38. ^ Massingberd 2001, p. 34
  39. ^ Cooper 1850, p. 112.
  40. ^ "Memorial Services", The Times, no. 64241, p. 12, 29 January 1992, retrieved 23 July 2012 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help) (subscription required)

Bibliography

  • Baker, John (2005), Ballot Box to Jury Box: The Life and Times of an English Crown Court Judge, Waterside Press, ISBN 978-1-9043-8019-1
  • Cooper, William Durrant (1850), A History of Winchelsea (Google eBooks ed.), John Russell Smith
  • Devlin, Patrick (1986), Easing the Passing: The Trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams, Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-5711-3993-4
  • Hallworth, Rodney; Williams, Mark (1983), Where There's a Will... The Sensational Life of Dr John Bodkin Adams, Capstan Press, ISBN 978-0-9467-9700-4
  • Jakubait, Muriel; Weller, Monica (2005), Ruth Ellis, My Sister's Secret Life, Robinson, ISBN 978-1-8452-9119-8
  • Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (2001), The Very Best of the "Daily Telegraph" Books of Obituaries, Pan Books, ISBN 978-0-3304-8470-1
  • Solis, Gary D. (2010), The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law In War, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-5218-7088-7

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melford_Stevenson&oldid=504761354"