HE HAS jailed murderers, attackers and even a naked rambler, but now after a more than a decade Winchester Crown Court’s most senior judge will pack away his wig for the final time this month.

The Recorder of Winchester Judge Keith Cutler CBE is to retire on January 29, having held the position since November 2009.

Once named the “the Smiling Assassin” by court staff, the stalwart known for his swift but stern sentencing style has looked back at his time in the profession.

Called to the Bar in July 1972, Judge Cutler became a circuit judge in 1996 and was later appointed as the resident judge for Salisbury in 2003 before the two courts amalgamated.

He said: “It is a very important job ensuring people get justice, ensuring that the prosecution is conducted fairly, and that the defendant can best defend themselves with what has been provided to them. My main job to is to ensure the jury are properly directed.”

He has occasionally sat at the Court of Appeal in London and was the coroner for the Mark Duggan inquest in 2013 – the Tottenham man shot and killed by police in 2011.

He continued: “I sat as a coroner at the Mark Duggan inquest. I was asked by the Lord Chief Justice to be the coroner in that – it was fascinating as there were all sorts of experts trying to recount what happened."

One case which has remained in his memory was the manslaughter case involving a fatal speedboat crash on the Solent.

The trial was told the defendant as driving a rib boat that collided with a yacht and Ryan McKinlay, 36, suffered fatal injuries in June 2015 in Osborne Bay, off the Isle of Wight.

Another is that of the Naked Rambler Stephen Gough who appeared at Winchester Crown Court after he had broken an anti-social behaviour order.

“He insisted on appearing in court without any clothes on and without any representation. I said you could always sit down when talking to the jury, but he said ‘I’ve got to stand up to respect the court’, I said ‘you are not respecting the court without any clothes on'.”

Judge Cutler recalls that Gough ended up representing himself from prison - but was still naked during the trial.

He added: “I am told since that he had started putting clothes on.”

Judge Cutler was due to retire in the summer last year having reached the age of 70 – the mandatory retirement age for judges – but was asked to remain as the country dealt with the pandemic.

“I will be sorry to leave it, but at the same time good things come to an end,” he said.

“I have done my time so it is good to let other people take over and carry on the work.”

Judge Cutler continued: “I would just like to thank anyone who has been on juries before me. It is one of the things that can be a great pleasure or an inconvenience – being on a jury quite often is very inconvenient - to give up two weeks and serve on a jury is really very difficult.

“I have always found people respond so well, they have been positive, listened to the evidence and come to sensible conclusions – in Winchester and Salisbury and they really have been very good indeed.”

He added: “I’ve always worked with a marvellous team of judges, they have always been very professional and very supportive, and the court staff they do work very hard with good humour.

“It will be very sad and quite a change because having been quite full on and busy it suddenly stops. I was at one time threatening to come back and become a barrister again.”

Judge Cutler has also thanked the various Lord Lieutenants and High Sheriffs he has worked with during his career.

In the 2010 New Year’s Honours List he accepted the award of Commander of the British Empire and was previously a Lay Canon at Salisbury Cathedral.

He will be replaced as Honorary Recorder of Winchester by Judge Angela Morris.