Talk:Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard

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[edit] Sexually excited

I'm a bit worried about the bit saying he was sexually excited when sentencing. Can someone else check the source and say whether it has been quoted accurately? Furthermore, since the ref is a book on homosexuality, was Goddard gay? He was friends with Roland Gwynne so this could be possible. Malick78 11:24, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

  • I found this here:

Ludovic Kennedy, in his anthology of miscarriages of Justice THIRTY-SIX MURDERS AND TWO IMMORAL EARNINGS, describes the Lord Chief Justice's idiosyncratic approach to donning the "black cap" and sentencing prisoners to hang:

"After Goddard's death his clerk, Arthur Smith, told John Parris (Craig's counsel) that on the last day of a murder trial he would bring a fresh pair of trousers into the robing-room, as Goddard was in the habit of ejaculating into his present pair when sentencing a prisoner to death.

While not wishing to linger of the mechanics of this, I have to say that I find it hard to believe that at his age his ejaculation was spontaneous and can only conclude that, with the bench protecting his lower half from the eyes of the court, he did his business unseen...."

If it's accurate, then it wasn't his valet but his clerk.Malick78 11:38, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

John Parris as counsel for Christopher Craig, and also as a left-wing Labour candidate, is not the most impartial observer that ever existed. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 19:06, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
What absolute libellous nonsense and a stain on the character of this great man. The link doesn't work, google reveals nothing and no reviews of the book even mention this. Has anyone actually seen the reference in the book itself? 80.246.106.4 09:26, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
  • It's not libellous. Goddard's dead. As for being 'a great man' - he tried to get John Bodkin Adams off for serial murder just because he was the friend of Adams' lover.Malick78 10:14, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I can confirm that what the article says reflects what is written in Spencer's book. SP-KP 10:10, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Goddard never sat on the Bodkin trial, three other Court of Appeal judges did. What Devlin allegedly said (and I say allegedly because the information comes from the Devlin article) is that "in the event of Adams being acquitted, that Adams be released on bail before the Hullett trial". This is a long way from "getting Adams off". Back to Goddard's alleged sexual activities during trials, the source for this highly doubtful information was first Ludovic Kennedy, now it is Spencer. What is it to be? 88.207.244.94 18:59, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

The source originally listed in the article is by Spencer (see the article's references list). Was your question about Kennedy's book? If so, that wasn't clear. SP-KP 19:18, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

My question was whether the source for this information was Spencer or, as was claimed above by Malick78, Kennedy. 80.246.106.4 16:30, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
  • I've just restored this info. I've found another ref to it, so it seems to be widely believed and reported material. See here - a working link to Googlebooks. The info is in the footnote on page 95. Malick78 (talk) 08:16, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bodkin interference

88.207.244.94, the source for Devlin's accusation that Goddard tried to influence his decision on bail comes directly from Devlin's book and is reffed as such in the article here. Maybe my phrase 'getting him off' was hyperbole, but Goddard was obviously doing a favour for the defendant's lover.Malick78 08:46, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Not sure that it can be described as a favour when the jury were already out and had no knowledge of the conversation. At best it's an inappropriate comment. 80.246.106.4 16:30, 24 October 2007 (UTC)