By JEROME TAYLOR - THE INDEPENDENT
Added: Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 UTC

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/secular-society-upset-by-judge-cherie-decision-1889792.html

A senior judge could be called on to investigate a complaint that Cherie Blair handed down a more lenient sentence to a man who had been convicted of fracturing a person’s jaw because he was religious.

Mrs Blair, a devout Roman Catholic who sits as a part time judge under the title Cherie Booth QC, spared Shamso Miah from jail last month after he was convicted of assaulting a person at a bank queue in east London.

The 25-year-old from Redbridge, north-east London, was given a two-year suspended sentence instead of a six-month jail term because, Mrs Blair said, he was a “religious person” who had not been in trouble before.

In response the National Secular Society made an official objection to the Judicial Complaints Office which handles complaints against members of the judiciary. Last night the OJC said the complaint was being “considered under the Judicial Discipline Regulations”. If it finds that Mrs Blair may have breached those regulations, a senior judge would then be brought in to investigate and could recommend formal disciplinary action.

Mrs Blair was hearing the case at the Inner London Crown Court on 23 January. The court heard how Mr Miah, who described himself as a devout Muslim, had punched Mohammed Furcan in the face following an argument with over who was first in a queue at a bank.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/secular-society-upset-by-judge-cherie-decision-1889792.html

TAGGED: LAW, MORALITY