Top judge in robes fights off muggers
Thugs target 71-year-old outside Mansion House
HE IS a distinguished judge who has seen off some of the country’s most notorious murderers, rapists and robbers. But Judge Richard Hawkins, QC, found himself on the other side of the criminal justice system when, wearing his full ceremonial robes, he was targeted by muggers.
The senior Old Bailey judge was attacked by two street robbers after attending a lavish dinner hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of London last week.
Yesterday his wife revealed how the 71-year- old bravely managed to fight off his attackers after being pinned to the wall. However, he could not stop the men tearing a precious watch from his wrist.
Along with other senior Old Bailey judges, Judge Hawkins had been dining in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House, attended by the Lord Chancellor, Ken Clarke.
As he left the banquet at Mansion House at 10.45pm last Wednesday, the judge, dressed in robe, black breeches, silk stockings and lace jabots, was accosted by two men who slammed him against a wall while they rifled through his pockets.
His wife Anne, told the Daily Mail from their home in Southwest London that her husband, a sailing enthusiast, was able to resist the men because of his ‘good upper-body strength’.
‘Upper-body strength’
Mrs Hawkins said: ‘They were quite friendly to begin with, saying what interesting clothes he was wearing.
‘Then one of them pinned his hands behind his back, while the other was feeling around in his pockets for cash, which they didn’t particularly get. Then they patted him down. He managed to push them off.’
She added: ‘He’s quite phleg- matic about it. He’s fine, although a bit non-plussed. To be robbed outside the Mansion House, of all places. It’s quite shocking. He was wearing his full regalia, tights and everything.
‘Some of the most senior bods in the City of London police are looking into it.’
The muggers made off with a Tissot watch, worth ‘ a few hundred pounds, but of enormous sentimental value’.
The watch was a present from his father-in-law, a GP, on the occasion of Mr Hawkins being made a QC by the Lord Chancellor at the House of Lords in the 1984. The inscription reads: ‘To Richard on the occasion of you becoming a QC.’
A 21- year- old has been arrested and bailed in connection with the robbery, which was captured on CCTV.
Judge Hawkins has presided over some of Britain’s most notorious criminal cases, including the trial of the killers of eight-year- old Victoria Climbie.