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Senior judge to take up new role

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By Craig McGlasson
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Senior judge to take up new role

A SENIOR judge who has lived in Annandale and Eskdale for more than a decade is moving to pastures new.

His Honour Judge Paul Batty, QC, will leave his post as main Carlisle judge at the end of this month.

Having served two four-year terms in that role at Carlisle Crown Court, Judge Batty is transferring to York, where he will hold the same position.

During his time in the border city he has enjoyed his home life in near-by Annandale and Eskdale, living in the Lockerbie area.

He first officiated in Carlisle  in 2003, following an appointment as a circuit judge.

In 2012, he had bestowed upon him the ceremonial title of Honorary Recorder of Carlisle.

He will be succeeded in the city by His Honour Judge Peter Davies, who is set to officially take over on November 2.

Judge Batty and his wife, Angela, will move house from Dumfriesshire to North Yorkshire.

He said: “It is a new chapter. I am looking forward to it enormously.

“My wife comes from Yorkshire so for her she is returning home. I come from the North East — County Durham — so I am going back across the Pennines.

“I have a lot professional and personal friends in North Yorkshire. So it is, as they say, onward and upward.”

Judge Batty, aged 62, said his impending departure from Carlisle would bring “a mixture of sadness but also a sense of pride.”

He said: “I will have been here for 12 years to the day when I depart to go to York.

“I have made some wonderful friendships, both professional and personal.

“I shall miss the court staff. By common consent the staff at Carlisle Crown Court are said to be amongst the finest in England.

“I shall miss them enormously, and of course I will miss my professional colleagues — the other judges. In particular, Judge Barbara Forrester, who has been a tremendous friend and supporter through my tenure here at Carlisle.”

 

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