Melford Stevenson

The Right Honourable Sir Melford Stevenson
Mr Justice Stevenson in 1959
Justice of the High Court
In office 1 October 1957 – 23 April 1979
Personal details
Born	Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson (1902-10-17)17 October 1902 Newquay, Cornwall, England
Died	26 December 1987(1987-12-26) (aged 85) St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England
Spouses	Anna Cecilia Francesca Imelda Reinstein ​ ​ (m. 1929; div. 1942)​ Rosalind Monica Wagner ​ ​ (m. 1947)​
Children	3
Education	Dulwich College University of London

Sir Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson, PC (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987), usually known as Sir Melford Stevenson, was an English barrister and, later, a High Court judge, whose judicial career was marked by his controversial conduct and outspoken views.

After establishing a legal career in the field of insolvency, Stevenson served during the Second World War as a Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces. He was subsequently Judge Advocate at the 1945 war crimes trial of former personnel of the German submarine U-852 for their actions in what became known as the Peleus affair. In 1954 Stevenson represented the government of British Kenya during Jomo Kenyatta's unsuccessful appeal against his conviction for membership of the rebel organisation Mau Mau. Later that year he represented the litigants in the Crichel Down affair, which led to changes in the law on compulsory purchase. In 1955 he defended Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed for murder in the United Kingdom. He was deeply distressed by the execution of Ellis, for whom there had been no defence in law, but whom Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George was expected to reprieve. Two years later, Stevenson took part in the unsuccessful prosecution of John Bodkin Adams for the murder of Edith Alice Morrell.

Stevenson became a High Court judge in 1957, and acquired a reputation for severity in sentencing. He sentenced the Kray twins to life imprisonment in 1969, with a recommendation that they serve not less than 30 years each. In 1970 Stevenson passed long sentences on eight Cambridge University students who took part in the Garden House riot, and the following year gave Jake Prescott of the Angry Brigade 15 years for conspiracy to cause explosions.

One of his fellow judges, Sir Robin Dunn, described him as "the worst judge since the war".^[1] After Dunn's attack, several high-profile legal figures came to Stevenson's defence,^[1] among them fellow judge and biographer Lord Roskill, who pointed out that Stevenson could be merciful to those he regarded as victims.^[2] Lord Devlin described Stevenson as the "last of the grand eccentrics".^[3] Mr Justice Stevenson retired from the bench in 1979 aged 76, and died at St Leonards in East Sussex on 26 December 1987.