Judge told barrister: 'Your performance is piss poor'

A motorist had his dangerous driving conviction quashed after it was revealed that the judge in his original trial passed a note to the defence barrister describing her performance as "piss poor". The barrister told the Court of Appeal that the trial judge's remarks had damaged her confidence and prevented her client getting a fair hearing. Judge Ian Alexander QC headed his note "6 Ps" and then spelt out the words "Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance." The "6 Ps" is a British Army adage which is often used by instructors during training for life-or-death situations.

The note was passed to Cambridge-educated Kathryn Howarth, one of the brightest barristers of her year, who was representing motorist Dean Cole, 23, on a charge of dangerous driving at Northampton Crown Court. He was convicted, fined £1,000 and warned he would be jailed for a month if he didn't pay. He was also banned from the road for two years.

During the trial Judge Alexander and Miss Howarth, who has been qualified for three years, clashed over the way witnesses described the end of a police chase which led to Mr Cole crashing his vehicle on the outskirts of Rushden, Northampton. On the second day of the case the judge, who has more than 25 years experience, handed Miss Howarth his note before the jury was called in.



Following a guilty verdict the case was taken to the Court of Appeal where Lord Justice Latham, Mr Justice Andrew Smith and Judge Scott Gall quashed the conviction of Mr Cole, a plasterer from Kettering. Their judgement said they were "unable to decide if His Honour Judge Alexander thought it was a humorous attempt to indicate to Miss Howarth what he felt, or whether it was pure rudeness."

They added: "Even if he did feel there were aspects of Miss Howarth's approach to the case which perhaps as a young barrister he felt might have resulted in her not helping her client ... that was not the way to express himself. It can have had nothing but a detrimental effect on the confidence of Miss Howarth and the way the trial was conducted."

Lord Justice Latham described the missive as "a wholly inappropriate note to be sent to counsel." He added: "We cannot feel comfortable about the safety of the conviction and therefore we quash it." After the hearing Mr Cole, who will not face a retrial, said: "This has restored my faith in the criminal justice system."