Last updated at 16:33, Wednesday, 11 July 2012

A RESPECTED judge has been honoured for his work with magistrates in Cumbria.

The Furness Bench presented Judge Paul Batty QC, who is now the honorary recorder of Carlisle, with a wooden gavel, complete with engraving, to mark his retirement as the magistrates’ liaison judge for Cumbria.

The award was also to mark Judge Batty’s appointment as the honorary recorder of Carlisle, which took place earlier this year. Following a handing over ceremony at Barrow Crown Court, Judge Batty said: “It was a very humbling experience to be appointed the recorder of a great city.

“I am particularly grateful to the Furness Bench for their thought in marking my appointment.

“Although I am no longer the magistrates’ liaison judge for Cumbria, I intend to carry on sitting at Barrow Crown Court.

“The sitting at Barrow Crown Court is extremely important because it allows serious crime to be administered locally, in relation to sentence.”

Judge Batty, 58, was raised in the North East although he spent two years at Austin Friars School in Carlisle.

He studied law at Newcastle University, was called to the bar in 1974 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1995.

He first sat as a judge in 1989 and became a circuit judge in 2003.

First published at 16:20, Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk