'Ticking off' judge backed over leniency

The legal establishment yesterday dug in behind Judge Alastair McCallum in the controversy over the way he handled the case of the policeman accused of indecently assaulting two women colleagues.

In a statement issued on his behalf by the Lord Chancellor's department, Judge McCallum hit back after he was condemned by women's groups and by Lynne Tolan, the former detective chief inspector who investigated the complaints, for saying that the officer, Constable Robert Bridle, should have had a "sound ticking-off" instead of being taken to court.

It was the first time since 1994 that the department had issued a statement on behalf of a beleaguered judge.

P C Bridle, a 41-year-old married man, was accused of grabbing the breasts of two female colleagues and, on another occasion, sitting astride one of the women. Judge McCallum directed the jury at Bradford Crown Court to find him not guilty on all three charges, and on a further charge to be dealt with at a separate hearing.

The first WPC, who testified on Monday, had not wanted the case to come to court but said she felt a complaint was necessary.

In the wake of calls for his resignation Judge McCallum, 49, took the rare step of asking the Lord Chancellor's department yesterday to issue a personal response on his behalf. By convention the department remains officially neutral, but it is unlikely to have agreed to make the statement if it believed the judge was in the wrong.

He declared in the statement: "I am surprised at the way in which the case has been reported. I am also astonished that a retired policewoman, who was on the witness list and ... not in court to hear any evidence, should give a press conference outside the court minutes after the case ended."

Highlighting that the prosecution had decided to offer no further evidence, the judge took the equally rare step of repeating from his notes the relevant part of his direction to the jury, in which he said: "In this case there is now evidence that a fair degree of horseplay took place during canteen breaks between officers of both sexes, and clear evidence that some of the language used and nicknames given would possibly offend if it were not used in the context of the very close camaraderie that we heard of on Shift Rota 3.

"They were obviously a good, cohesive unit who even used to socialise out of hours, and a good deal of banter became an acceptable form of relieving boredom or tension... Clearly it should never reach a stage where a police officer becomes uncomfortable, harassed or indecently touched."

The judge added that the prosecuting counsel, with the benefit of the evidence, felt he could not ask for a conviction. The judge told the prosecution on Tuesday that "if a person behaves in that way, and if a complainant doesn't want the matter to come to court, then the appropriate way to deal with him is [for] his superior officer to give him a sound ticking-off."

Jean Smith, of Rights of Women, the legal policy and advice organisation, disagreed. "The judge still went beyond what was required," she said. "Those kinds of comments contribute to the belief that sexual harassment is always the result of 'horseplay', and not to be taken seriously."