Probation and a dressing-down for judge who hit his wife in the face

Deputy High Court Judge James Allen QC was said to have suffered a “catastrophic” blow by his solicitor Edmund Conybeare when he appeared for sentence at Bradford Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

During a trial which started in December and which ended earlier this month the defendant was found guilty of attacking his wife because she had “giggled” and chit-chatted with a friend while her husband seethed upstairs.

After giving him a 12-month supervision order District Judge Daphne Wickham reminded him of his legal obligation to co-operate with the probation service for the duration of the order.

She told him: “You are no longer the master, Mr Allen. You are the servant.”

During the trial, Allen, 61, claimed his wife Melanie inflicted injuries on her own face during an incident at their house in Woolley, Wakefield, on February 20 last year.

But the court heard it was him who had struck at least three blows to his wife’s face causing bruising and swelling.

He told the court at his trial that he was in an “irritable” mood after a long day driving back from a holiday in Scotland and was furious to find on his return his wife more interested in comforting their cleaner Amanda Clarke whose mother had recently been diagnosed with cancer, than in attending to his needs.

He said: “When I entered the kitchen I actually said to my wife I was not happy with Amanda Clarke having visited.

“I said I had been upstairs for an hour-and-a-half and I had nothing to eat all day.”

An eight-year-old child, who was in the house at the time, made a 999 call and told the operator Allen was “trying to kill” Mrs Allen, a barrister who works as a deputy coroner under the professional name Melanie Williamson.

Mrs Allen, 44, backed up her husband’s story when she gave evidence in court.

She said she had acted “pathetically” in trying to stop him leaving and also said she had self-harmed in the past necessitating a visit to a hospital.

But one doctor told the hearing Mrs Allen’s injuries on February 20 were not consistent with self-punching.

Police officers told the trial Mrs Allen made no mention of harming herself when they called at the house within 15 minutes of receiving a 999 call.

Mrs Wickham said she did not believe the couple’s account and found Allen guilty of common assault.

Allen sat behind his lawyer yesterday for the 10-minute long sentencing hearing.

His wife was not in court, although the district judge was told they were still together.

Sentencing Allen, Mrs Wickham said Allen had reacted to his irritation at his wife having a “female chat” with the cleaner “rather like a sprung coil”.

The district judge added: “I found that you snapped when you felt you were being stopped from leaving.”

She reminded the court Allen hit his wife at least three times and, although the bruises and swelling were not “long lasting”, she said the attack was “dangerous and unpleasant”.

She said to Allen: “The effect of the conviction on you personally and professionally is profound. That is punishment, I’m sure you will think, in itself.”

She added: “There’s some degree of remorse. What is positive is that this was a single incident committed in a very short space of time.”

Allen, who was also told to pay £5,000 in costs over a three-month period, made no comment as he left the court.

A spokeswoman for the Judicial Communications Office said: “The Lord Chief Justice has decided to refer Deputy High Court Judge Allen to the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC), following his conviction of common assault.

“The OJC is aware of this matter and is investigating.”

Allen was called to the bar in 1973 and was made a QC in 1995. He was made a deputy high court judge in 2000.

Mrs Allen is also a trained barrister. She sits as a deputy coroner in the eastern district of West Yorkshire, covering the Leeds area.