Macur: Conviction not arguably unsafe
The Court of Appeal has refused to hear an appeal from man sentenced to eight years in prison for stalking a judge.
The appeal judges said the sentence took into account the fact that Javed Sheikh had spent eight months in prison between March and November 2022 for contempt of court – a sentence imposed by the civil courts.
Mr Sheikh, a former trainee doctor, was found in contempt of court in August 2020 for repeatedly breaching injunctions imposed on him to stop using the website Judges Behaving Badly (JBB) to harass His Honour Judge Simon Oliver, who had found against him in an Upper Tribunal case.
Mr Justice Nicklin imposed a 16-month jail sentence in October 2020 in a ruling that noted Mr Sheikh had probably contacted Legal Futures too. Mr Sheikh’s surname was spelt ‘Shaikh’ in the civil judgments. He was convicted of stalking in January 2024.
Giving the Court of Appeal ruling, Lady Justice Macur described the JBB blog as “highly offensive and threatening in content directed towards the judge and his family”.
Mr Sheikh denied that he was responsible for the blog but asserted that criticising a judge was protected under the European Convention on Human Rights as an exercise of free speech.
The court rejected his argument that the trial judge erred in allowing the admission of civil judgments into criminal proceedings.
Macur LJ said the finding of the civil courts on the identity of the blogger was “admissible but not determinative in the criminal trial, which was subject to a different standard of proof and a different evidential basis”.
She went on: “It is apparent from his ruling that the judge determined that the potential prejudicial effect of the evidence clearly did not outweigh its probative value, and that any prejudicial impact was catered for in the firm direction to the jury which he gave to the jury and which we consider was favourable to the applicant.”
The Court of Appeal rejected other grounds, including that his defence was “prejudiced by the judge identifying the complainant as a judicial post holder”. Macur LJ said the trial judge was “astute to direct the jury to determine the case on the evidence and put aside prejudice”.
Mr Sheikh argued that the trial judge “failed to adequately direct the jury on the different standard of proof between civil and criminal cases”, but Macur LJ said the judge had made a “sufficient and straightforward direction which differentiated between the standard of proof between civil and criminal litigation”.
She ruled that Mr Sheikh’s conviction for stalking was “not arguably unsafe and the renewed application for permission to appeal is dismissed”.
Refusing leave to appeal on sentence as well, Macur LJ said there was “every justification for the judge to reach a sentence outside the top of the range and close to the maximum sentence” – and he specifically took into account the fact that Mr Sheikh had already served a term of imprisonment for his civil contempt.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb and Mrs Justice Eady contributed to the judgment.
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