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Judge who called trans campaigner a 'stupid, condescending fool' on social media acted in an 'offensive manner', justice chiefs rule

• Simon Myerson was found guilty of 'judicial misconduct' & issued 'formal advice'

By Natasha Anderson

Published: 22:01 EDT, 25 March 2024 | Updated: 05:24 EDT, 26 March 2024

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A judge who called a transgender  activist a 'stupid, condescending fool' online has been found guilty of acting in an 'offensive manner', justice chiefs have ruled.

Simon Myerson KC, in a slew of tweets last year, accused the campaigner of making 'idiotic statements', having 'tiny intellect' and 'trying to patronise me'.

The judge, who was allegedly blocked by the activist, also asked the activist why he was 'not on your list of people to be shot when the trans revolution happens'.

The judicial conduct investigations office launched an inquiry into his tweets after receiving complaints from two trans activists, The Telegraph reported.

Mr Myerson has now reportedly been disciplined by Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk and Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr after the probe found him guilty of acting in 'an offensive manner' and failing to 'maintain the standards of his judicial office'.

Judge Simon Myerson (pictured) has been found guilty of acting in an 'offensive manner' after he called a transgender activist a 'stupid, condescending fool' online, justice chiefs have ruled

Mr Myerson has now reportedly been disciplined by Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk (left) and Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr (right) after judicial conduct investigations office launched an inquiry into his tweets. The probe found him guilty of acting in 'an offensive manner' and failing to 'maintain the standards of his judicial office'

The judicial conduct investigations office determined that Mr Myerson 'posted inappropriately' on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter . 

Baroness Carr, with the Lord Chancellor's agreement, issued the judge with 'formal advice', a form of disciplinary sanction, for 'judicial misconduct'.

'In making their recommendation, the nominated judge considered that Recorder Myerson had identified his judicial status in historic tweets, engaged in politically controversial issues, sometimes in an offensive manner, and failed to maintain the standards of his judicial office,' a spokesman told the newspaper in a statement.

In his tweets, Mr Myerson, chairman of the Leeds Jewish Representative Council, criticised the activist, whom MailOnline declined to name, for 'lacking intellect'. He also likened the campaigner to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

'I think the reason so many of the stupid left are invested in Chomsky's brilliance (a man who denied genocide & defended antisemites) is that they feel a need for intellect,' he wrote in a tweet last April.

'They can't get it from Corbyn, who even they realise lacks the requisite quality. They batten onto Noam.'

He appeared to be referring to American professor and the so-called 'father of modern linguistics' Noam Chomsky, who is known for his political activism and social criticisms.

The judicial conduct investigations office determined that Mr Myerson 'posted inappropriately' on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter

Mr Myerson took aim at the activist again in June last year, tweeting: 'Part of the problem is that the people who conduct the debate on the "side" of trans people are the same people who cheered on Corbyn. It means the politics are poisonously personal, and the intellect is tiny.'

In another controversial post, the judge also asked the activist, 'what's the deal? I'm blocked but I'm not on your list of people to be shot when the Trans revolution happens. Can I appeal?' 

Guidance for judges reportedly advises them to avoid arguments about the judiciary or legal system online. They are encouraged to refrain from debating politically controversial topics.

Judges are also expected to maintain the 'moral authority, integrity, decorum and dignity' of their judicial office, the guidance states.

A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office declined to comment further when contacted by MailOnline.

Mr Myerson declined to comment when approached. 

• Judge acted in 'an offensive manner' when he called trans campaigner a 'stupid, condescending fool'

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Why are you looking for Israel-Hamas war crime witnesses, Met asked

A leading Jewish barrister has questioned why the Metropolitan Police is investigating war crimes committed in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Simon Myerson KC, chairman of Leeds Jewish Representative Council, asked why the London force’s war crimes unit was appealing for witnesses to crimes against humanity.

On Wednesday Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, accused Scotland Yard of “politicisation” after it produced posters at Heathrow airport urging people returning from the region with information to get in touch.

The force has defended itself over the action, stating that it is the country’s investigative authority for war crimes and that, as a signatory of the 1998 Rome Statute, it has a duty to support the International Criminal Court.

However, Myerson said: “The question I have is, who are

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Commercial, Clinical Negligence, Professional Negligence, Regulatory.

Human Rights/Group Litigation: lead counsel on the Kenyan Emergency Group Litigation (Kimathi v FCO) for the Claimants. Fraud: civil, unfair prejudice petitions and criminal. Acted for Mark Langford of Tag in the civil proceedings. Recent criminal cases include Kudus v R [2019] EWCA 837 (knowledge of risk of death in gross negligence manslaughter). Tax tribunal work includes Herefordshire Property Company v Revenue & Customs [2015] UKFTT 79 (TC) (unfair imposition of penalty) and Foulser v Revenue and Customs [2015] UKFTT 220 (TC) (valuation of shares in a private company for the purposes of CGT). Commercial disputes, particularly advising solicitors Commercial disputes, particularly advising solicitors leaving the partnership and quasi partnership disputes Leslie v Farrar Construction Limited [2015] EWHC 58; . Defamation and harassment: Levi v Bates [2009] EWHC 1495 and [2015] EWCA Civ 206; Weston v Bates [2012] EWHC 590; Johnson v McArdle & Anor [2020] EWHC 644; Clinical negligence: Bancroft v Harrogate HA (1997) 8MedLR 398. Administrative law: R v Education Leeds [2005] EWHC 2495; Ashton v Chief Constable West Yorkshire [2005] 975; Crown Prosecution Service v Cambridge CC [2010] EWHC 663 (Admin); PSCT v Milton Keynes Council [2013] EWHC 1237 (Admin). Professional discipline: Solicitors The Law Society v Waddingham & Ors [2012] EWHC 1519 (Admin): Barristers: police officers (Cross Border and Alder matters and Bichard Enquiry (Soham murders)): customs officers.

Called 1986, Middle Inn Temple; recorder 2001; Appointed Silk 2003; SFO Panel QCs 2009-2012; Bencher Middle Temple (2013) Pupillage and How to Get It: https://pupillageandhowtogetit.com

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Carmel College, Wallingford; Downing College, Cambridge (1984 MA).

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Judge given formal advice over ‘offensive’ social media posts

By Legal Cheek on Mar 26 2024 8:49am

Follows two complaints

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) initiated an investigation into Recorder Simon Myerson’s behaviour on Twitter, now known as X, following two complaints from unnamed individuals. These complaints concerned a series of posts that the individuals found “offensive”.

In reaching its decision, the JCIO said it considered that Myerson “identified his judicial status in historic tweets, engaged in politically controversial issues, sometimes in an offensive manner, and failed to maintain the standards of his judicial office”.

Social media guidance issued to judges advises them to avoid participation in online debates about the judiciary, legal system or other topics of “political controversy”. It also reminds judges to maintain the moral authority, integrity, decorum and dignity of their judicial office.

The public notice from the JCIO does not offer additional details regarding the content of the posts.

Myerson has attracted over 20,000 followers since joining X in 2012.

Join the conversation Cancel reply

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Fighting hate is all in a day's work posting for these twitter warriors.

They wake up at 6am and dive into cesspools to defend Jews against lies and abuse. But who are the people behind the Twitter handles?

BY Rosa Doherty & Daniel Sugarman

When it comes to hunting down antisemitism within the Labour party, there is one Twitter account in particular that has led the charge, known only as @gnasherJew.

But in real life there is not just one person behind the account, but “four guys… former Labour party members”.

Originally, they were involved in “exposing far-right and Palestinian antisemitism”, but from the summer of 2016 they began to notice “the upswing in antisemitism coming from Labour members”, which led to them switching their focus towards antisemitism on the far left, setting up the @GnasherJew account in March 2017.

“The far right are far easier to deal with. They are blatant in their hatred of Jews. It’s coarse antisemitism,” they say, describing antisemitism on the left as “far more pernicious; it’s dressed up in a cloak of Soviet-style ‘anti-Zionism’.

“Left-wing antisemites, and especially the current leadership of the Labour Party, are intoxicated by their own piety.

“Their antisemitism is of the genteel Virginia Woolf type, not at all similar to the far right, who are honest in their hatred — if ‘honest’ is the right word.”

As former Labour members, they describe the current state of the party as “heartbreaking.

“We are faced daily with instances of horrific antisemitism which have been excused or ignored by the party.”

They are also unconvinced by the Labour party’s apparent attempts to rehabilitate members found guilty of making antisemitic comments by making them undergo training.

“We regularly see Labour members who have been for training, or who have apparently repented, in private Facebook forums still spouting vile antisemitism,” they said.

“The training has only served one purpose, to show them how to hide their racism better.”

It’s not easy work and it requires a great deal of time.

The people behind the account describe the number of hours they have spent monitoring online antisemitism as “incalculable. The four of us are monitoring social media accounts virtually every waking hour.”

It’s also not always rewarding. Although they “have some fantastic support on Twitter and Facebook”, they admit that “the violent threats and constant abuse from trolls is tiresome”.

So why do they do it?

“We are the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and victims,” they say. “There isn’t much more of an explanation needed than that, really.”

Simon Myerson

Simon Myerson joined Twitter in 2012. The 55-year-old is a busy barrister but he has tweeted over 44,000 times, a lot of which has been about antisemitism.

Mr Myerson, who uses the Twitter handle @SCynic1, joined the platform originally to talk about the legal profession and to keep up with the news.

He noticed that the antisemitism got worse in 2016 after Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader.

“I would never have dreamed there would be a time in my life when I would be spending my time challenging antisemitism online. But I can’t stand by without saying something,” he says.

“I didn’t decide to do it, it just started to happen. Twitter always had its far-right neo-Nazis screaming into the void because it is the only place anyone would listen, but I started seeing it from people on the left who were using their anti-Zionism to disguise their antisemitism.”

Mr Myerson says he became shocked to see people he thought of as otherwise “sensible”, repeating things that were “obvious antisemitism. “If they examined what they were saying they would be horrified, but they weren’t, they were just parroting things they had heard.”

According to Mr Myerson, who lives in Leeds and finds the time to challenge antisemites during his breakfast coffee, “there is no coming back” for people who are silent about the antisemitism they see online.

“You start asking the question ‘what did you do in the war?’”

He says it is impossible for him to see antisemitism online and not say something, but sometimes that means he becomes the focus of a “pile on”, whereby someone he has challenged invites their followers to attack him.

“I don’t find it frightening, but I understand that some people do. I still do it because I think, however unlikely, there is always a chance of a debate. I always work on the basis that it can happen.”

His family are less convinced by the amount of time he devotes to the cause.

“I get a lot of aggravation. If I have a very busy day it is not the sort of thing I can devote hours to, but I can spend up to four or five hours in the day [on Twitter].”

Despite his commitment, he has no problem taking a Twitter break on Shabbos and during the Yomtovim. “Some people feel the urge to look at what is happening. I certainly don’t.”

Marlon Solomon

When Marlon Solomon joined Twitter in 2010, it was to promote the plays he was in and to talk about theatre.

But today, the 39-year-old actor from Manchester, who goes by the Twitter handle @supergutman, has come to use the social media platform for fighting antisemitism.

“Originally I found Twitter quite boring… But in 2016 I started to notice a rise of antisemitism on Facebook.”

He says that shortly after Mr Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party “the typical conspiracy theories about Jews were being shared by people on my feed… they were my peers.

“I felt like I had fallen into a sewer of vile antisemitism and Holocaust denial.”

It was then that he begun to use his profile to “highlighting the antisemitism I was seeing on the wider left”.

Mr Solomon uses his profile to engage in debate with people who might have “unknowingly or ignorantly” shared antisemitic content because he thinks he might be able to change their mind.

“There are people on Twitter who are unashamedly antisemitic and they feed off you responding to them, so I tend not to engage with those accounts.

“But I have had some positive interactions with people who I disagree with politically but have come to help them understand antisemitism.”

Mr Solomon has more than 3,000 followers and his timeline is almost entirely devoted to challenging antisemitism or conversations about it.

The actor, who is currently touring with his show A Lizard’s Tale , which is about the conspiracy theories he challenges, says he likes to use humour wherever possible encourage debate.

“I do it mostly because it keeps me sane but sometimes anger gets the better of me. It is hard to work out who is arguing with you in good faith.”

Spending hours of the day arguing with racists can take its toll and Mr Solomon insists it is essential “to take breaks.

“It can be really unhealthy and distressing, and sometimes it is hard not to come away from Twitter thinking ‘so many people hate Jews’.”

One plus side is the support he gets from others who use their profiles in the same way. “People come up to me if I see them in real life and say, ‘I’m David360 from Twitter’ and that is really nice.”

Euan Philipps

Euan Philipps is the spokesperson and one of the founding members of the group @LabourAgainstAS.

He spends hours every day using the account to highlight antisemitism. He does the same on his personal account, @EuanPhilipps, which he set up in 2016.

But Mr Philipps is not Jewish. The 40-year-old Labour member set up the group with Jewish and non-Jewish Labour members in order to protest against Jackie Walker, the suspended Labour activist.

“She was taking her show around the UK and we started sending emails to people who were hosting her, drawing attention to the fact she had been suspended over antisemitism.

“We always thought it would be an anonymous group until someone leaked our letter to her and she posted about us on her social media.”

Mr Philipps says the group quickly turned into an investigations unit set up to report instances of antisemitism within the Labour party.

“We have a small team that spends hours on the research. At first I would get involved in a lot more interaction and debating but we don’t do so much of that any more.”

He says he goes online mostly to promote stories of antisemitism as they appear in the media, so that people “don’t think this is a niche issue that they don’t have to worry about. We don’t want these people in our party.”

Since joining Twitter, Mr Philipps, who joined the Labour party in 1996, has left a job in communications to study for a MA in political communication at Goldsmiths University. “Before 2016 I was the kind of Labour member to have sat in meetings and voiced opinions on Israel and Palestine that were probably quite questionable.

“It was just that lazy Labour attitude to the subject.”

It was after talking to Jewish members about their experiences and how they felt that he started to notice a real problem.

Gillian Lazarus

Gillian Lazarus, a retired 69-year-old grandmother of four is not on social media much during the day, but goes on at night “often until 2am”. Her speciality: documenting antisemitism on Labour party Facebook forums.

She says she’s “always been Labour”, but saw a major shift after Mr Corbyn’s 2015 election as leader, describing some of his online supporters as being “like the BNP on speed.

“I did not anticipate how quickly the left’s obsession with Israel would enter the party’s bloodstream, but there it was, a kind of sepsis, thriving on old Rothschild and Protocols fantasies and modern demonisation of Israel.”

She created two new Facebook accounts under false names and joined online Labour Party forums, describing them as “characterised by an almost constant outpouring of material about evils perpetrated by Israel, Rothschilds, Labour Friends of Israel, JLM, Board of Deputies and the ‘Lobby’, which they think runs the Blairites and Tories they hate so much.”

She says that “occasionally” she does change minds.

“My impression is that my interlocutors are young Muslims, usually male. “On the Labour forums, the grossest antisemitism appears to come from elderly white people. They often mention their age as a kind of qualification.”

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"Recommended for civil fraud matters."

Simon Myerson KC

Call: 1986 | Silk: 2003

Email: [email protected], download profile, email profile, practice areas.

Commercial Litigation Civil Fraud Employment Clinical Negligence Professional Liability Partnership Health and Safety Professional Discipline Defamation Public Law

APPOINTMENTS

Attorney General’s Provincial List (1992) Standing Counsel Inland Revenue (2000) Recorder (Crime, Class 2, Civil, Chancery) (2001) Qualified Mediator (2009) Bencher (Middle Temple) 2013

ASSOCIATIONS

Commercial litigation.

Simon is experienced in all aspects of commercial litigation and has developed his junior practice in silk.

Concluded cases Catfoss Finance v Topdog:  claim for conversion of hired goods settled at trial.

Dixon v S & N  [2002] 4 Comp LR 484. Construction of Beer Order in a case in which the issue was whether the tenant had breached the terms of his tenancy agreement. First time the order had been the subject of judicial consideration.

Abbey Archway v Cooper . Construction of an option agreement for the sale of land in which there were 2 such options, both of which the Claimant purported to exercise and in respect of which the Defendant alleged undue influence.

Flowrite v Masternaut . £1,000,000 claim for breach of contract resulting from a failure to pay for goods supplied, the Defendant claiming that the goods were unfit for purpose.

Garforth Residential v Leeds City Council.  Claim against local authority for failure to pay block grant involving construction of the National Assistance Act 1948.

TNT v Somerfield Stores  Claim for loss of profits where extension of contract was conditional upon minimum sales figure being reached. Issue of whether figure was reached and whether, if not, the failure was manipulated by the Defendant.

Sample current cases

• €30m claim for damages and conversion in connection with 4 yachts.
• Defending Commercial Court claim for breach of contract in relation to the contract’s termination for non-performance.
• Defending £6m claim for company accused of deliberately misinforming insurers about financial information.
• Representing company directors in Tax Tribunal where HMRC seek penalties in respect of a declared tax avoidance scheme, which failed.

Simon has long experience in employment work, especially relating to improper use of confidential information and breach of restrictive covenants, but including advisory work on the implementation of new rules and regulations.

Concluded cases Menage v Nuffield.  Claim by doctors wishing to decamp to new private hospital to be released from their contract of services with the existing provider.

Re F.  Claim by a taxi company to restrain passing off relating to their name and the recruitment of existing employees by competing business set up by ex-employees.

Re Nuffield.  Advice on application and requirements of new nursing homes regulations to large private supplier.

Re X:  Advised serving police officer on whether disclosure of adverse judicial finding is compulsory or whether, in the circumstances, the Chief Officer is breaching the agreement for service. Officer reinstated in investigative capacity with disclosure accompanied by explanation of circumstances of finding.

CCC:  Super-Injunction against employee, restraining disclosure of confidential information.

• Advising partner dismissed by partnership in claim including sex, religious and age discrimination.
• Representing respondent charity in claim by alleged employee whose contract for services expired and was not renewed.

Personal Injury

Concluded cases Barnsley Footwear v Masters.  Claim by company against former employee for account of profits arising from employee’s new business. Issue as to precise status of Defendant, confidentiality of information and whether information legitimately acquired.

Menage v Nuffield.  Claim by doctors wishing to decamp to new private hospital to be released from their contract of services with the existing provider.

Sample current cases Advising ex director on whether co-director’s actions amount to repudiation of contract where key financial decisions made in absence of director and where financial information deliberately withheld.

Clinical Negligence

Simon has regularly acted for Hospital Trusts and doctors.

Concluded cases

M v Calderdale and Kirklees Health Authority (formerly West Yorkshire Health Authority)  [1998] Lloyd’s Rep Med 157. Health Authority’s delegation of care of patient under S1 NHS Act 1977.

Bancroft v Harrogate Health Authority  [1997] 8 Med LR 398. Causation in cervical cancer. 

Burke v Leeds HA  [2001] EWCA Civ 51. What constitutes negligent advice in clinical care.

• Acting for Claimant in claim against hospital for cerebral palsy said to be caused by negligent treatment.

Professional Liability

Simon mainly deals with cases involving solicitors, barristers and accountants, often when professionals acts together to administer an estate or as part of a tax planning exercise. He has also acted in cases involving architects and surveyors.

Del Grosso v Payne & Payne  [2007] EWCA Civ 340. Claim against solicitors for negligent advice regarding the purchase of a club.

Singer v James Hay.  Claim by beneficiary of pension fund against pension trustees, solicitor and accountants regarding pension planning and purchase of annuity. 

Seddon v Egan.  Acted for solicitor in a claim by client alleging failure to adequately advise on £3m deal to sell commercial site subject to conditions.

• Acting for charitable trustees regarding potential misuse of charitable funds by employees as sanctioned by professional advisers who were also trustees.
• Right to Buy. Lead counsel for 11,000+ Claimants in negligence claim against solicitors acting for purchasers of council houses.

Professional Discipline

Simon acts regularly for firms of solicitors being investigated by the SRA. He has advised other professions as diverse as accountants and probation officers, and has advised on the wording of professional rules and guidance, and the setting up of disciplinary proceedings. He has represented numerous police officers via the Police Federation. In December 2010 he completed a 6 year stint on the BSB Conduct Committee and resumed taking instructions for Barristers.

Concluded cases The Law Society v Waddingham & Ors [2012] EWHC 1519 (Admin): successfully defended solicitors the subject of SRA appeal that SDT’s decision that clients not dishonest should be overturned.

Re T: Successfully argued that case against barrister should be dropped and recovered costs for Bar Mutual.

Re H & L. Representing firm of solicitors appearing before SDT in relation to charges brought arising from the COPD (Miners’ Compensation) scheme.

Bichard Inquiry. Acted for the Humberside Police Federation in the Inquiry into the Soham murders and made successful representations regarding comments in the Report.

Alder Inquiry. Represented police officers in the IPCC inquiry into the death of Christopher Alder.

Cross Border. Represented 3 officers charged with various offences arising from the Cross-Border investigation.

Re H Probation Service. Advised Probation Service as to disciplinary routes open regarding officer who had failed to complete an adequate OASYS assessment with catastrophic results.

Representing firm of solicitors appearing before SDT in relation to charges brought arising from the COPD (Miners’ Compensation) scheme. Advising Customs Officers regarding disciplinary proceedings brought after criminal charges were dismissed.

Partnership

Simon regularly deals with partnership matters, usually involving the dissolution of professional firms, or misfeasance on the part of partners. He also has experience of franchise litigation.

Scargill v Crank.  Claim for an account turning on issue of when the Partnership was dissolved involving close construction of Partnership Agreement.

Re Cheshire.  Claim for breach of Franchise Agreement by local franchise holders of national firm, based on deliberate default of franchisor.

Thompson v Shackleton.  Breach of Partnership in food business including claims of theft and fraud.

Re C.  Claim by one partner against others for conspiring against him to force his retirement, including holding secret partnership meetings and refusing to provide proper access to information.

• Acting for partners in claim against ex-partner alleged to have breached accounting rules and procured resignation rather than expulsion by covering up those breaches.
• Acting for partner in claim that ex-partners falsified accounting position of firm in attempt to expel him from partnership and obtain existing assets when partnership dissolved.
• Advising solicitor on restrictive covenants and construction of contract as he attempts to extricate himself from his former partners.
• Advising solicitor on construction of interrelated Partnership/LLP/LMC Deeds and his entitlement as regards basic share and points.

Health and Safety

Simon deals with criminal cases, advises on the effect of accidents, and deals with civil claims involving damage to property.

R v Butters.  Acted for employee directly responsible for fatal accident at Lightwater Valley in both the Inquest and the criminal proceedings.

R v Next.  Prosecuted Next Plc for fatal accident in which employee abseiled from fork-lift truck with inadequate equipment and died when the rope paid out without stopping, causing a fall of about 30m.

Re E MAPPA.  Advice on departmental enquiry after offender committed suicide when the subject of supervision.

R v Next plc.  Prosecuted Next for fatal accident when lift inadequately specified and maintained.

• Representing 2,000 Claimants in claim against chemical company for allowing fire causing escape of toxic gas from its premises.

Simon has accepted defamation instructions since taking silk.

Concluded cases X v Y.  Acted for Claimant in a case where Defendant making accusations of criminality and theft from friends. Settled for damages and costs.

Re Solicitors.  Acted for 2 firms of solicitors accused in a script of an investigative BBC Radio programme of assisting an offender. Script altered.

Levi v Bates ([2009] EWHC 1495.  Acted for successful Claimant in action for libel against Ken Bates regarding the takeover and subsequent management of Leeds United.

Weston v Bates & Anor [2012] EWHC 590.  Successfully represented Claimant before Master and Judge in Defendant’s application for order that he had not been properly served in Monaco.

Levi & Anor v Bates & Ors [2012] EW Misc 9.  Successful harassment claim, following on from the defamation action between the named parties.

Ontulmus & Ors v Collett & Ors [2013] EWHC 980.  Successfully resisted strike out on basis that Claimants had no trading reputation in the jurisdiction.

• Advising professional sportsman the subject of made up quotes in a newspaper article, which adversely affected ongoing contract negotiations.
• Representing foreign businessman in libel claim against ex-customer and the customer’s business/legal advisor, in which claim for lost business exceeds €4.5m.
• Representing director of a company accused by US based journalist of being a fraudster.

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February 2022

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Hull judge Simon Myerson QC speaks out on life in court and cases that still haunt him today

'Every society should be judged on what it does to give a voice to the unsympathetic and nasty'

• 10:13, 7 FEB 2022

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If you're a regular reader of Hull Live's stories from the courts, chances are you've happened across Simon Myerson QC's name once or twice.

The senior criminal barrister is no stranger when it comes to prosecuting and defending in some of Yorkshire's biggest trials, from murders and sexual offences to robberies.

He's also a judge who sits as a recorder at Hull, York and Bradford Crown Courts where the worst crimes are dealt with.

For more news from the courts, click here

Well-known cases he's been involved in include Hull's Damian Silvestri , who was jailed last year for bombarding his ex with hundreds of messages, the murder of four-year-old Ryan Hawkins in Huddersfield and the Leeds gang murder of Keith Harrower.

In an interview with YorkshireLive , the Queen's Counsel spoke frankly about life in the job, how the criminal justice system also gives society's "nastiest" people a chance to speak, and the case he lost that haunts him to this day.

When Simon isn't on the bench, sitting in the judge's chair or preparing a case, he likes to study and teach Judaism.

The father-of-four also sits on Leeds Jewish Representative Council which looks after the Jewish community and fosters good relations with other communities in the city. Simon also does volunteer and charity work.

Here Simon, 59, discusses what it's like to work on some of the country's biggest criminal trials.

He talks about why the British justice system gives 'nasty' as well as nice people the chance to speak.

Simon discusses jangling nerves and near 'heart attacks' when verdicts come through, being approached by former criminals while off-duty and the case that still haunts him.

He also gives his frank views on the jury system and government cuts to our judiciary.

What attracted you to criminal law, rather than say, commercial or family?

I do commercial work as well, but the attraction of criminal law is threefold.

First, it’s exciting - it’s jury advocacy and it’s the area of law that most involves the public. It’s what people grow up thinking a barrister does.

Secondly, it engages the public as jurors. I truly believe that a system of justice attracts public confidence when it engages as many people as possible. When we serve on a jury, we get the opportunity to see that we are a fair society. That’s an incredibly important message and it’s a privilege to have a part to play.

Thirdly, every society should be judged on what it does to give a voice to the unsympathetic and the frankly nasty. It’s easy to be fair and compassionate to lovely, well-behaved people. But it doesn’t count until you do the same for everyone. And, when you meet people in that position, they always have some good points. We write people off too easily.

My auntie and cousin are family and commercial barristers respectively. They work days, evenings and Sundays if they have a case to prepare, which is most of the time! Are you in a similar situation?

Yes. And often more urgently… criminal trials are far more likely to be overtaken by unexpected developments.

The aim of the rules is to ensure that everything runs like clockwork. But the essence of criminal behaviour is that you don’t think very clearly - it’s no coincidence that the number one course the probation service run is called “think first”. So things can go awry and frequently do.

Because the system is under such strain - and that, in turn, is because it is ridiculously under-resourced by an administration that doesn’t much care if we’re honest - trials that run over time have a knock-on effect. We try to stop that happening.

'We write people off too easily'

How do you feel on the first morning of a big criminal trial before you begin your opening speech?

I think I’m supposed to say nervous but that’s not entirely accurate. It’s more keyed-up and ready to go. And excited. I did choose this job, so I might as well enjoy it.

From my own experience of court reporting - albeit years ago - criminal court cases can be stop-start and appear, on the surface, chaotic. How do you deal with that?

I would like to say that I have learned a zen-like calm which carries me through, but that would be a lie.

I find the stop-start tiring and - depending on my mood - aggravating. But it is inevitable because so much has to be coordinated; sometimes things just don’t work out as you’d wish. The chaos is only on the surface though, so that bit doesn’t worry me.

'Every society should be judged on what it does to give a voice to the unsympathetic and the frankly nasty.'

The atmosphere for media when we're awaiting a verdict is tense and uneasy. What is it like for a barrister? Is there any difference in your feelings when you're defending rather than prosecuting and awaiting a verdict?

I regularly think that if I am going to have a heart attack it will be whilst in the gap between “do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty” and the answer. The pounding heart, the sweaty palms and the anxiety have been a constant between 1986 when I started, and now. I guess it won’t change.

The wait is no better - in 35 years I have only twice managed to do any real work whilst waiting. I see others get on with it, but when I try I produce such rubbish that when I re-read it I inevitably ask “which idiot wrote this?”

And no, it makes no difference whether I’m prosecuting or defending. I always think it should be more relaxed when I’m prosecuting, but it doesn’t.

You also work as a judge. Apart from the practical aspect of the job, how does it differ from being a prosecutor or defender? Are the hours longer? Is there more pressure?

The hours are shorter and the pressure is less. Judges are obliged to be above the fray, and that has a real effect. That doesn’t mean there’s no pressure at all - of course there is. But it is the pressure to do the right thing, ensure the jury has the information it needs and is treated properly, and to lead a cooperative approach to getting a fair result. It is essentially reactive, rather than the need to drive a particular case.

I like it: it’s a change and seeing the job from the other side allows you to improve your own performance as a barrister. But, most of all, it allows me to involve members of the public in delivering criminal justice. I seriously cannot think of a more worthy way to bind a society together and it is a privilege to be part of it.

'Judges become over-familiar with criminality... They tend to think everyone is guilty.'

Obviously, you have to deal with some horrible stuff. Is there any case that "haunts" you?

I acted for victims of the Kenyan colonial regime (and it is properly described with that word) who were subject to serious human rights abuses as “Mau Mau” members. Over a million people were confined to prison villages and hundreds of thousands were imprisoned in what were concentration camps. The abuses inflicted on them included the most appalling physical torture, from which many died. But even worse was the deliberate deprivation of access to medical services which led to children and their parents dying when they could have been saved.

My clients had faith that we would vindicate their suffering and their loyalty - so many had served in the war. I make no criticism of the judge, but the failure to acknowledge that what we did to other British citizens will never leave me. I believe in the power of law to right wrongs, and I don’t deal very well with what happens when it doesn’t.

What do you think of the jury system? Did you ever feel a jury returned the wrong verdict in any of your cases?

It is the best way to deal with allegations of criminality. I have no doubt about it at all. Judges become over-familiar with criminality - as doctors do with serious illness. They tend to think everyone is guilty. That’s a terrible responsibility to impose on someone who has to decide the facts, and we make sure judges don’t have to do that by having a jury.

What’s more, juries are incredibly serious in their approach to the case. They almost always begin by thinking they can’t do it. Then they think they can. Then they get down to it. And whilst not everyone might feel confident to approach the job on their own, my experience is that communal decision making allows everyone to make a contribution and that the wisdom of crowds is particularly apparent in jury decisions.

Which is your favourite crown court in Yorkshire and why?

York for the incomparable architecture. The old Beverley Crown Court for the incomparable companionship and atmosphere.

'The system is under such strain... because it is ridiculously under-resourced by an administration that doesn’t much care'

I can think of decisions with which I have disagreed, but very few which I thought were plainly wrong. And, on top of all that, jury service means the criminal justice system - which can touch any of us at any time - is accessible to more than a highly qualified elite. That is critically important. We judge ourselves - what aspiration in a democracy can really be seen as higher than that?

Have you ever been approached by a former defendant or complainant when you've been off-duty?

Occasionally - the wig often does its work in that respect. But I have been served by an ex-client in a charity shop (he was doing his community service and hailed me cheerfully).

And I have had the immense pleasure of being approached by the manageress of a restaurant who asked if I recognised her. When I said no, she showed me the letter I sent her in reply when she wrote to me to thank me for giving her a suspended sentence when she was an absolutely desperate drug addict.

I said that she had earned the chance to avoid prison. She kept it in her wallet. Knowing that I’d played a part in her success was pretty special.

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Claim that MP lied about Kenya massacre 'may be in contempt of parliament'

Foreign Office intervenes in Mau Mau case after court hears colonies secretary may have misled MPs 60 years ago

Lawyers acting for 40,000 Kenyans who claim they were variously tortured, mistreated and raped during the suppression of the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion have been warned by the Foreign Office that their arguments in court could be in “contempt of parliament”.

The extraordinary manoeuvre by government officials follows courtroom evidence alleging that a former colonial secretary of state, who died more than 30 years ago, may have withheld information from MPs about a notorious massacre of rebel detainees almost 60 years ago.

The row, involving an exchange of letters during the long-running hearing, threatens to involve the Speaker of the House of Commons , John Bercow, over suggestions that court examinations of historic debates in Hansard, the official record of parliamentary debates, could constitute “breach of parliamentary privilege”.

The FCO’s concern is understood to be related to the courtroom suggestion that a minister may not have told the truth to the House of Commons. Parliament technically has the ancient power to punish non-members of parliament for contempt which includes, according to Erskine May’s guide to parliamentary practice: “Reflections on the House, by means of words spoken or written, reflecting on the character of proceedings of the House.”

Two weeks ago, Simon Myerson QC, representing the Kenyan claimants, accused the Conservative government of the day of repeatedly trying to “kill” bad news stories that emerged from Kenya during the uprising against British rule.

He cited extracts from the contemporary memoir of a local magistrate, Willoughby Thompson, who was in the office of Kenya’s governor, Sir Evelyn Baring, when the latter was on a telephone call with the then secretary for the colonies, Alan Lennox-Boyd.

Baring was reported to have told Lennox-Boyd that the 11 inmates who died at the Hola detention camp in March 1959 were beaten to death. The colonial secretary was, according to the memoir, alleged to have replied: “I don’t want to say that, because I have already told the House [of Commons] something else.”

Thompson, a former district commissioner who is now 97, carried out an official investigation into the Hola massacre. He gave evidence to the hearing last week via a video link from his bed in an Essex care home and was the first witness to appear on behalf of the FCO. He was not, however, questioned about Lennox-Boyd.

The FCO’s concern only surfaced in court later. Myerson told the judge, Mr Justice Stewart: “Our concern is possible contempt of parliament and the possible need to involve the Speaker of the House.”

He later explained that there had been a conversation “about the Hansard material and the defendant [the FCO] saying that it may be that we were in breach of parliamentary privilege and the Speaker may need to be contacted, and they’d written to us about that and we’d replied to them”. The row raises raises questions about what can be asked in court.

For eight months, lawyers in court 17 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London have been examining suppression of the Mau Mau rebellion. The lawsuit brought on behalf of 40,000 survivors by Tandem Law, a Manchester-based firm of solicitors, against the FCO is far larger than a previous class action. The government paid out £19.9m to settle the initial mass claim.

Ministers are refusing to settle the latest claim, arguing that at this distance in time the issues cannot be tried fairly when those alleged to have inflicted the violence are now dead or untraceable. The case, which began last year, could run into 2018.

Thompson’s evidence about government policy and admissions of what happened in practice during the dying days of empire summoned up an era of officers’ cantonments clustered around hilltop golf courses, and isolated police posts surrounded by ditches filled with sharpened stakes.

“At the beginning of Mau Mau [in 1952],” Thompson, who was then a district officer in the Kandara division, recalled, “the War Council [in Nairobi] had hardly come into being. Nairobi [the Kenyan capital] was a white kingdom. It didn’t know what was happening. The governor [Sir Philip Mitchell] was not sympathetic to the administration in the field.

“We felt very alone in the districts. During 1953, several posts were overrun and a huge number of guns were lost to the enemy. Mau Mau caused terrific damage and horrendous deaths. I remember seeing whole families who had been decapitated and pregnant women disemboweled.

“Some of the killings [by the pro-government home guard] that went on were not appropriate,” Thompson admitted. “We had to make sure that discipline was re-established as soon as possible. The Kenyan police were wonderful throughout [and took action] when they found cases of wrongful killing.”

Prosecutions by local police for killings carried out by the home guard, however, left many of them feeling bewildered, Thompson said. “The home guard said: ‘We have done our best. We fought back. Now you are hounding us’.”

As a district officer, Thompson was in charge of a district with a population of 95,000 people. He was asked by Bryan Cox QC, also for the Kenyan claimants, whether the policy of forced villagisation – gathering people into one location to deny Mau Mau rebels civilian support – was popular.

“No one liked it,” Thompson conceded. “No one wanted it. The resistance came from the people themselves.”

Thompson played a central role in the aftermath of the notorious Hola massacre in March 1959 when 11 Mau Mau suspects were killed and 23 injured in a government detention camp.

He was sent to investigate what had happened. “I knew it was political dynamite,” Thompson told the court. “The bodies were covered in water. The story I was given – that they had mysteriously drowned by having water thrown over them – didn’t hold. I could see they had been beaten.

“The prisons department had expanded and recruited a lot of temporary officers. [The British prison officer in charge] was a good man. He had some command of Swahili language, but not very much, and no tribal languages.

“He briefed the warders as far as I could ascertain in poor Swahili. This was amplified by getting one of his own prison warders who spoke in English. He told them: ‘Tell those so and sos, they have got to work.’ There’s no way of knowing how that was interpreted and whether what he said was understood. There was no clear command in the first place. [The British officer] was being asked to do too much.”

The hearing continues.

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