Magistrate jailed for lies that saw man jailed

11:36pm Tuesday 13th November 2007

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A magistrate repeatedly lied to a jury to get a man jailed for attacking him.

Outwardly respectable Ian James claimed he had been attacked with a stick by Jamie Sneddon outside his home.

But in fact it was the 56-year-old magistrate who chased Sneddon and his 15-year-old half brother, Ashley Wood, down a road and then beat the teenager with a wooden stick.

Today James was jailed for 15 months for lying in court during two trials that led to Sneddon being jailed for 20 months for GBH.

Mr Sneddon's brother condemned the magistrate, who had served at Lewes Magistrates' Court.

Mr Wood, now 23, of Park Road, Seaford, said: "It really disgusts me. Ian James is supposed to be at the top end of the law. He's the person you would rely on as a trustworthy person, not playing the system to his advantage as he has done here.

"My brother has lost ten months of his life because this man lied. But he was very determined to prove this man lied and it goes to show what goes around comes around."

Maidstone Crown Court heard how James told juries at two separate trials he had been beaten with a stick by Jamie Sneddon.

The jury at Mr Sneddon's first trial could not reach a verdict on his GBH charge, but he was found guilty at a retrial at Croydon Crown Court in 2000 and jailed for 20 months, partly as a result of James' false evidence.

Prosecutor Edmund Fowler told the court in Maidstone how the trouble stemmed from a car crash outside James' home in Denton Drive, Newhaven, in December 1999.

Mr Sneddon, who had pranged his car into James' wife's vehicle, returned the following night with his half-brother and the pair stole a Christmas wreath from the magistrate's door.

Furious James gave chase in his car and a scuffle followed in which the magistrate was attacked with a glass.

James told police Mr Sneddon had been armed with a stick and had gone on the rampage with the weapon.

Mr Fowler said: "Jamie Sneddon had stated upon his arrest that Mr James had had a stick and used that to hit Ashley Wood.

"Pieces of the stick were shown to Mr James in March 2000, who said he had never seen it before.

"At Croydon Crown Court in October 2000, Mr James said he saw the stick for the first time when he saw Ashley Wood striking the car."

Mr James lied again at the retrial which led to Mr Sneddon serving ten months of a 20-month sentence for GBH before being released to return to his home in Newhaven.

The truth emerged five years later in an amazing coincidence when Mr Sneddon contacted James by chance, after booking a carpet cleaning with Howgood Professional Cleaning Services, which was owned by the popular JP.

Mr Sneddon later telephoned James to get quotes for a clean-up job and used a dictaphone to record him admitting he had repeatedly lied to the court about who hit who with the stick.

Mr Fowler said: "In May 2005 Mr Sneddon, who was by that time using the name James Wood, left his name and contact details on the company's answerphone.

"Mr James then rang Mr Sneddon back to talk about his cleaning requirements."

The pair spoke about the case and Mr James admitted to having lied in court.

Acting on advice from his solicitor Mr Sneddon then recorded a 40 minute conversation, which turned into a cast-iron admission of guilt from James.

The recording was then passed to police, who arrested the magistrate in October last year.

James maintained he had not lied about the stick, and only admitted having the conversation with Mr Sneddon when police told him about the tape.

He initially denied perjury and perverting the course of justice but changed his plea to guilty just minutes before his trial was due to get underway yesterday.

The judge ordered that the charge of perverting the course of justice should remain on file.

Kim Hollis, defending, said injuries sustained in the glassing attack had forced Mr James to take 16 weeks off work and he had since lost his wife and business, and been dogged by depression and heavy drinking.

Jailing the corrupt magistrate, Judge James O'Mahoney said: "In 1999 you were a respectable member of the community, a councillor and a justice of the peace, and you sat in judgement over others.

"You knew better than most what you were saying when you took the oath: 'The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'.

"You lied about what you had done in this incident and you did it quite deliberately, repeatedly and knowingly in a period of time that led to the imprisonment of Mr Sneddon.

"It's difficult for me to judge how material that lie was. But this damages the very fabric of justice in this country.

"You have lost your standing in the community and are rightly ashamed of yourself.

"There must be an immediate sentence of imprisonment."

James' step-daughter Sharon Turnbull, 35, was also charged with two counts of perjury, but the judge ordered not guilty verdicts to be returned and she walked free from the dock.

The Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for magistrates, refused to comment on the case stating only that the Lord Chancellor's Guidance and Directions expected magistrates to uphold the law and behave in a way that reflects society's expectations of their office.