Lord Chief Justice rejects Orde’s criticism of lenient sentences

The North’s Lord Chief Justice has rebuked PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde for criticising what he described as the leniency of sentences handed down to people convicted of criminal offences in the North.

Mr Orde told a meeting in New York on Monday night that the Northern courts were considerably more lenient than those in Britain and the Republic.

However, Lord Chief Justice Brian Kerr has taken the unusual step of denying the claim and defending his profession.

Justice Kerr said judges in the North always strived to pass appropriate sentences.

He said sentencing was a difficult and challenging exercise that required careful consideration and experience and any objective analysis would reveal that it was carried out with great care and skill.