Terry Brown offered no defence and refused to leave his prison cell during the trial
A man who allegedly mugged a top judge in the heart of legal London has been cleared by a jury at Inner London Crown Court.
Terry Brown, from Bethnal Green, London, was accused of robbing Sir Robin Knowles CBE QC on Middle Temple Lane on 27 September last year.
The prosecution alleged that Brown — who offered no defence and refused to leave his prison cell during the trial — approached the 57-year-old High Court judge and told him to hand over his wallet. The court heard earlier this week how the top judge “appears to have been kissed on the cheek by the mugger as he fled” with around £140 of Knowles’ cash.
Furthermore, the prosecution stated that Brown, 45, was clutching a bottle of champagne during the mugging, which he had stolen from Lamb Building chambers earlier that same evening. He was charged with one count of burglary in relation to this, alongside one count of robbery.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Knowles — a former financial law specialist at South Square Chambers — reportedly told the court:
I did the calculation that the best thing for me to do was to produce my wallet rather than arguing or trying to run. I felt under a very real threat that the bottle would be used to hit me and I’m fully aware of how devastating the injury that type of action could cause. I was pretty focused on that danger.
According to legal news website CourtNewsUK (£), a jury of eight women and four men took just three-and-a-half hours to return not guilty verdicts on both counts.
Brown — who wasn’t represented during the trial — apparently told HMP Wandsworth’s prison doctor:
I got up to so much I do not know if it was me or not and it was a long time ago.
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