Dinner with His Honour Simon Tonking

We are fortunate that His Honour Simon Tonking will be joining us on Friday, 18th May, to speak to us after dinner. Again the time is 6.30 for 7.00 and the dress code is lounge suit. Simon is a recently-retired Circuit Judge, and will dispel many of the mysteries surrounding the sentencing process in criminal cases in England and Wales. He is eminently qualified to do so. A former Resident Judge and Recorder of Stafford, he also spent many years with the Judicial College teaching newly-appointed judges how to do the job, and he is one of the authors of the manual used by all Crown Court judges when conducting trials and passing sentence.

I can promise you that his talk will be witty and informative, and that it will not be legalistic. I heard him deliver it to an appreciative invited audience at a packed Lichfield Cathedral. He will tell you amongst other things about the different purposes of sentencing, which do not always sit easily together; the various forms of sentence which can be passed; the factors taken into account when deciding what sentence is appropriate; the extent to which judges and magistrates receive guidance on what sentence to pass; the practical effect of life sentences; the factors governing the release of prisoners (particularly topical in the light of the Warboys case); and the effectiveness of imprisonment in relation to rehabilitation and re-offending.
So come along for an enjoyable evening and enhance your knowledge at the same time. Mind you, given the subject-matter, you’d better behave yourselves!