Help for judges to cope with mental strain of sex cases

♦ Judges are to get mental health help to deal with sex crime cases, the new Lord Chief Justice has announced, as he said people must recognise that the judiciary “are human” too.

Lord Burnett of Maldon, who took on the role in October, said a new scheme would offer professional help to judges.

The number of sexual offences dealt with by crown courts rose for three years from 7,230 in 2012, peaking in 2015 at 9,790 before falling slightly in 2016. He said: “One of the things that we are very conscious of is, particularly for judges who spend a lot of time dealing with the kind of harrowing family case I refer to, and also those who have a fairly relentless diet of serious sex cases, it can have an impact and so we are making available professional support to judges who feel that it would assist them.

He added. “It’s important we recognise that judges are human and that we put in place support mechanisms to assist those who need it.”