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Sir Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson, PC (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987) was an English barrister and later a High Court judge, whose judicial career was marked by his controversial conduct and outspoken views. One of his fellow judges, Sir Robin Dunn, described him as "the worst judge since the war". Dunn is generally thought, however, to have harboured an irrational grudge.〔 After establishing a legal career in the field of insolvency, Stevenson served during the Second World War as a Deputy Judge Advocate. He was subsequently Judge Advocate at the 1945 war crimes trial of former personnel of the German submarine ''U-852'' for their actions in what became known as the ''Peleus'' affair. In 1954 Stevenson represented the British Government in Kenya during Jomo Kenyatta's unsuccessful appeal against his conviction for membership of the rebel organisation Mau Mau. Later that year he represented the litigants in the Crichel Down affair, which led to changes in the law on compulsory purchase. In 1955 he defended Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed for murder in the United Kingdom, and two years later took part in the unsuccessful prosecution of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. He was deeply distressed by the execution of Ellis, for whom there had been no defence in law, but who was expected to have been reprieved by the Home Secretary. Stevenson became a High Court judge in 1957, and acquired a reputation for severity in sentencing. He sentenced the Kray twins to life imprisonment in 1969, with a recommendation that they serve not less than 30 years each. In 1970 Stevenson passed long sentences on eight Cambridge University students who took part in the Garden House riot, and the following year gave Jake Prescott of the Angry Brigade 15 years for conspiracy to cause explosions. After Dunn's strange attack, several high-profile legal figures came to Stevenson's defence,〔 among them fellow judge and biographer Lord Roskill, who pointed out that Stevenson could be merciful to those he regarded as victims.〔 Lord Devlin described Stevenson as the "last of the grand eccentrics". Stevenson retired from the bench in 1979 aged 76, and died at St Leonards in East Sussex on 26 December 1987. == Early life == Stevenson was born in Newquay, Cornwall, on 17 October 1902, the eldest child and only son of the Reverend John George Stevenson and his wife Olive, sister of Henry Wickham Steed,〔 journalist and editor of ''The Times'' from 1919 until 1922.〔 Reverend Stevenson, a Congregational minister, died when his son was fourteen years old, plunging the family into economic distress. An uncle who was a solicitor funded Stevenson's ongoing education at Dulwich College in London, intending that the young Stevenson would join the family firm once his schooling was complete. There was no money available to allow him to attend university, so Stevenson studied for an external London University LLB degree after becoming an articled clerk in his uncle's legal practice.〔 Stevenson was determined to become a barrister, and joined the Inner Temple, of which he became the treasurer in 1972. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Melford Stevenson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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