Take off those medals in court, soldier victim of thugs is ordered
But judge lets attackers wear poppies
A DECORATED soldier was banned from wearing his war medals during the trial of two thugs who beat him up in an unprovoked attack.
But, ironically, his attackers were allowed to wear remembrance poppies in the dock.
Corporal Mark Kershaw, 27, who was commended for bravery in Afghanistan, was keen to wear the two medals in the week up to Remembrance Sunday. But a judge provoked fury by ruling it would be unfair to display them in court because it could have a prejudicial effect on the jury.
Corporal Kershaw was forced to put the Jubilee and Afghan campaign medals in his pocket when he gave evidence and in the public gallery. The decision by Judge Mark Bury at Hull Crown Court was later condemned by MPs and the victim’s family as ‘disgraceful’.
The court heard Corporal Kershaw was on his first night out last November after returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan when he acted as ‘peacemaker’ because a man was being verbally abused in a taxi queue in Hull. He was out of uniform.
Without warning he was headbutted by a woman and then attacked by two men with her.
Corporal Kershaw, a soldier in the Household Cavalry, told the court: ‘My nose exploded. I went to the ground and people stamped on my head and kicked me.’ He was treated by an ambulance at the scene. He was already in pain because of shrapnel near his spine.
The judge prevented Corporal Kershaw from wearing the medals under ‘bad character’ provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
He has two previous police cautions and initially the judge ruled these could not be revealed. But he said that to ensure fairness, the medals – a visible proof of good character – must be kept secret too.
However, midway through the case the judge allowed the corporal’s cau- tions in 2012 – one for a drunken incident in a bar and the other for damaging a taxi door – to be mentioned.
Corporal Kershaw then asked if he could put his jacket and medals back on and was told: ‘No.’
Craig Hood, 27, of Burton-Upon-Stather, near Scunthorpe, and Lee Wareham, 34, of Gateshead, were convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Sentence was adjourned. Hood’s partner Beverley Logan, 27, of Hull, admitted the charge at a previous appearance and is yet to be sentenced. Outside court, the victim’s uncle Alan Ker- shaw, 47, said the judge’s ruling was ‘an absolute disgrace.’
‘Mark has been shot at, blown up, and seen four of his friends killed in Afghanistan. He has given first-aid to wounded Afghans and been mentioned in dispatches for his bravery. The jury was told none of this.’
Tory MP Philip Davies said the judge’s decision was ‘appalling’. He added: ‘If the judge thinks that the jury are so stupid that they cannot see past the medals of a victim to determine the guilt or innocence of someone else then perhaps he shouldn’t be a judge.’