Judge in hot water with Derbyshire town over 'derogatory' remark

Over the last five years the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has survived attacks from solicitors, barristers, opposition politicians, and legal hacks galore. But now the halls of 102 Petty France face their sternest test from the denizens of a village in south Derbyshire.

Newhall Parish Council leaders are demanding a formal apology from the MoJ after they claim a judge made a 'derogatory' remark that amounts to a 'deeply offensive slur' on the town's good name.

While sentencing 50-year-old Robert Chalmers for assault at Derby Crown Court, judge Stuart Rafferty - a QC formerly of No 1 High Pavement Chambers - said: 'You are a mature 50-year-old man who behaved like a two-year-old. That's what this case is down to.

'You can take the boy out of Newhall but, it seems, you cannot take Newhall out of the boy. All men are children and some grow up. You, it seems, haven't.'

Chalmers pleaded guilty to attacking another man with a golf club in Newhall. The defendant hit his victim - a former friend - with such force that the golf club broke.

Still, the good people of Newhall have taken exception to the suggestion that they are all a bit rough and have called on the MoJ to issue an apology for Rafferty's 'disgusting' comments.

A spokesperson for the MoJ said it had no comment because, as every lawyer knows, judges have independence from the ministry.

However, a spokesperson from the judiciary confirmed to SJ that Rafferty had made the comments and that they were directed at the defendant.

Judge Rafferty might want to avoid Newhall for the immediate future.