A HAMPSHIRE judge has taken the rare step of speaking publicly about the "constant criticism" faced by the judiciary.

Judge Keith Cutler, who sits at Winchester and Southampton crown courts, said of his job: "One downside is the constant criticism, as it appears to us, about judges in the press and from politicians.

"We can't respond - we should not and we don't. So we have to try to be thick-skinned, though I do know judges who get hurt about what is said.

"I'm not sure what the answer is. It used to be a parliamentary convention that judges could not be criticised by politicians because they were not able to reply.

"We could ignore newspapers and television - but then we would be accused of being out of touch."

Judge Cutler was speaking to The Times before his colleague Judge Richard Pryor was criticised for failing to jail a Southampton man who tried to rob a Winchester jeweller's shop with an axe in 1999.

The robber was ordered to carry out 240 hours' community service. The victim and victims' organisations criticised the leniency of the sentence. Judge Pryor told defendant William Shanter that if the crime had been more recent, he would have jailed him for three years.

There have been other controversial sentences passed by judges at Winchester..

In 1993 Judge Ian Starforth Hill QC earned a rebuke after he labelled the eight-year-old victim of a Southampton sex attacker as "no angel".

Last month Judge Justice McCombe refused to lift the ban on naming two juveniles who used a screwdriver and a cleaver to attack RAC man fixing a car in Southampton (see left).

The judicial system comes under criticism as judges are unelected, unaccountable and nearly impossible to remove from office.