Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said yesterday that despite the moments of extreme tension that could occur in court, they had never erupted into trouble in Washington St, Cork, for the last 24 years — “thanks to the presence of The Ringer”.

A retiring judge yesterday criticised some sectors of the media for swingeing attacks on sentences imposed by courts rather than addressing the more complex area of reintroducing prisoners to society on their release from jail.