James Morton
NewsFinding fault with the experts
Another forensic scientist has bitten the dust under cross-examination.
NewsLet a computer say yes to justice
‘All these cases now to be heard by the magistrates. They’ll never get through them.’
NewsRumour mill led to murder charge
75 years before solicitors Harold Greenwood and Major Armstrong were accused of murder, Edmond Edmonds was charged with the murder of his wife.
NewsEllis paved the way to abolition
The conditional pardon granted to Ruth Ellis, hanged 71 years ago, was probably the best her supporters could have hoped for.
NewsSerious blow to my ego
A strength of the English and Welsh bar has always been that it has both prosecuted and defended – and been peripatetic. My life as a CPS agent was comfortable but, from a justice perspective, too static and cosy. I became the bench’s ‘our Mr Morton’.
NewsConviction a hair raising reminder
A feeling of deja vu was prompted by the first case of a man convicted under the Public Order Act of harassment by stroking a woman’s hair.
NewsWhereabouts of 'expert' irks judge
Reports of a solicitor being struck off for telling a judge he was in London rather than Germany reminds me of a case I had at Lewes Crown Court.
NewsHow to succeed – don’t be flash
Advocacy is almost as much about what you don’t do as what you do.
NewsSorry Sir Brian, it’s thumbs down
I see that an upskirting case scheduled for four days before a district judge has been fixed for December 2027. How on earth has this been allowed to happen?
News'Don’t laugh, he’s better than you'
I heard some great (and lesser) solicitor advocates in magistrates’ courts.
NewsPut your trust in juries – not Lammy
Abolishing juries will result in another crack in the social fabric.
NewsDouble trouble on dream dates
Some years ago, I tried to appear in two different courts on the same morning.
NewsA subtext for a moral crusade?
‘It’s a witch-hunt,’ said my friend Tony, referring to the Windsor-Giuffre saga.
NewsWhen legal aid boosted divorce
Back when legal aid became readily available for divorce cases, discontented wives who had married young realised they no longer had to put up with disagreeable husbands.
News'The best ****ing night of our lives'
Following on from the park baseball boys (1 August), I did defend other brothers who were a bit more venal. They lived near the old cinema in the Caledonian Road, which seemed to show endless Randolph Scott double bills. It was also conveniently near Pentonville Prison, from which another client, ...