'I get nervous going through town at night'

Recent fears about violence in Swindon are shared by Judge John McNaught.

Late-night drunken fights in the town centre and the killing of father-of-two Michael Love have boosted residents' worry about being on the streets after dark.

And the resident Crown Court judge has told the Evening Advertiser how he shares their concerns.

He may be responsible for jailing some of Swindon's worst offenders but he said he, like anyone else, felt uneasy if he came back from London on a late train and had to trek through the town to where he had parked his car.

"I feel nervous if I come back from London on the evening train and have to walk through the town centre to my car," he said.

"I am wary about walking through the town late at night. I don't like walking from the station very much."

He said the court did see a lot of cases of street violence and he thought there was anecdotal evidence to back up people's concern.

But he added he hadn't heard any hard facts that indicated the violence had increased.

"But I think people are worried about it," he said.

Speaking during Inside Justice Week, he refuted the public perception that judges were hampered by sentencing guidelines and handed down unduly lenient sentences.

"I'm sure that people are very worried about crime and particularly violent crime and I do understand the feeling that the courts aren't being tough enough."

But he said experience had shown that simply locking people up didn't necessarily work, because often nothing was done to tackle the reasons people offended.

"I think we can demonstrate statistically, that the rate of reconviction is less following a tough community sentence than it is following a prison sentence," he said.

But he does worry about the long delays that victims, witnesses and defendants particularly young ones face in seeing cases come to trial.

The complicated nature of trials and shortages in staff are often a reason.

"With young people it seems awful that you are dealing with a case a year after the event." In that year, he pointed out, a young person could have completely changed their ways and moved on and it was somewhat unfair to delay their punishment for so long.

"In an ideal world you would have them in court in a week or so, but that is never going to happen."

When he first stepped into a courtroom more than 40 years ago, he said things were much more simple. Offenders appearing in court would take one of three paths prison, probation or a fine.

Now with the labyrinth of legal complexities sprawled out ahead of him, he said there was always much more to think about.

Inside Justice Week was aimed at giving the public a better understanding of the criminal justice system and he used it to give people an insight into a system which affects many people in some way or another, but which few see in action.

"What goes on in court in Swindon is just the tip of the iceberg," said Judge McNaught.

"Around 40 people work in the building and cases which end up before a judge make up a tiny fraction of all matters which go through the court."

Judge McNaught, who began as a barrister over 40 years ago and has been donning his wig for more than 17, said there are parts of the job he doesn't enjoy.

"Sometimes I have to do awful things," he said. "I have to send young people to prison and take children from parents who love them.

"It is the nature of things that whenever a case is tried, there will be people who go away unhappy at what I have done."

Emma-Kate Lidbury

Tina Clarke