Judge blasts lawyer: If you want to look like a Harry Potter character, stay out of my courtroom!
‘Medals and ribbons sewn into his gown’
A JUDGE gave a lawyer a public dressing down for looking like ‘something out of Harry Potter’ in court.
Judge David Wynn Morgan tore into Alan Blacker, who with his long black hair and imposing figure bears a resemblance to Hagrid in the Harry Potter films.
Mr Blacker had sewn a set of ceremonial St John Ambulance medals on his left breast along with colourful ribbons.
Judge Morgan told him: ‘If you want to look like something out of Harry Potter you can forget coming to this court ever again.
‘I have been practising in these courts since 1978 and I have never seen a barrister or solicitor appear before these courts wearing a medal or with badges sewn on to his gown. If you ever appear before this court again dressed as you are I shall exercise my right to decline to hear you.’
Mr Blacker goes by the full name of Dr The Right Honourable The Lord Harley of Counsel of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.
He was appearing at Cardiff Crown Court where he was representing a minibus driver who was jailed for five years for causing the death of a cyclist by dangerous driving.
After the trial Judge Morgan questioned Mr Blacker’s right as a solicitor advocate to wear the robes and wig of a barrister during the trial and asked whether he was a member of the Law Society. Mr Blacker, from Rochdale, said he was a fully qualified solicitor advocate allowed to wear the robes.
Judge Morgan then asked why he was wearing colourful ribbons and badges on his gown. The lawyer replied that he had earned the ribbons for voluntary medical service with the St John Ambulance.
He added he had been told by the Lord Chief Justice that it would be ‘appropriate’ to wear them. When asked for clarification by the judge, he said it was Lord Thompson who had given him the advice. The judge replied: ‘Since I started practising, there has been no Lord Chief Justice of England or Wales by the name of Lord Thompson.’
Mr Blacker – whose attempt to protest was halted when the judge left the courtroom – said later: ‘My qualifications, status and offices were brought into disrepute. For his Honour to have criticised me in such a way has hurt me deeply. ‘My bona fides are beyond any reproach.’ Mr Blacker’s LinkedIn professional network- ing web page carries glowing testimonials which describe him as the ‘Mozart of the courtroom’ and ‘almost a national treasure’.
He states that he is fluent in Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi, and the Luo language of Kenya and Tanzania, and claims to have patented a military weapon which is known as ‘The Hedgehog’.
He says he has been a member of societies including the Society of Model and Experimental Engineers, the Institute of Mental Health Act Practitioners, the Royal Artillery Association and the Zoological Society of London.