A senior high court judge is to respond to questions that a colleague may have been “removed against his will” from the retrial of four Sun journalists alleged to have made unlawful payments to public officials for stories.
Mr Justice Sweeney, the judge presiding over the south-east court circuit, will hold a special hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday morning to answer questions raised by the Sun journalists’ barristers.
They raised concerns in court last Friday after the judge Richard Marks, who presided over their first trial in Kingston crown court, informed them in an email that his “elders and betters” had decided he would not be overseeing the retrial in September.
He has been replaced by Charles Wide, who has referred the matter to Sweeney following demands that the public had a right to know why Marks had been removed from the case.
Nigel Rumfitt QC, for the Sun’s head of news Chris Pharo, said the email from Marks had caused “considerable consternation” among the defendants and that his communication “very much gives the impression that his honour Judge Marks has been taken off this against his will”.
“This deserves an explanation. The way this comes about gives rise to the impression that something has been going on behind the scenes which should have been dealt with transparently,” he said.
The court heard that the prosecution had no objection to the change of trial judge because it involved replacing “one fair judge with another fair judge”.
The row between judges and barristers was highly unusual.
The judicial press office said on Tuesday: “Deployment is a judicial matter and it is entirely common for a judge not to do a retrial. Which judge hears a case is dependent on a number of factors, including availability of the judge, length of trial and the type of case.
“We do not normally discuss the deployment of judges in individual cases. However, Mr Justice Sweeney is in receipt of written submissions from the defence in this case and intends to respond to them at a short hearing that will take place at 9.30am on Friday at the central criminal court.”
Pharo, along with five of his colleagues, was charged with conspiring to cause misconduct in public office. All six have denied the charges. Two were acquitted and the jury failed to reach a verdict on the four remaining when the trial ended last month.
Marks said in open court that his preference would be to take the retrial.
