Seniority: Judge Tilling in his office at Kingston Crown Court
"The difference between being on the stage and being a judge is not all that big. It is a very theatrical life with lots of interesting characters, albeit plenty of flawed ones too."
His Honour Judge Tilling, 63, resident judge at Kingston Crown Court had always harboured ambitions to tread the boards but plays instead daily to an audience of just 12. A starring role, but not the one he he dreamed of as a boy.
Born in Guildford, Charles Tilling went to school in Tonbridge before embarking on a languages degree at Cambridge University. He said: "I went to study German and French but I didn't last the course because I was so bored. It was all literature-based and it just wasn't for me. I had a falling out with my tutors after a year and left."
In his own words, he then tumbled into law. "My father suggested to me that I should consider law as a career, and because I had just dropped out of Cambridge, I was hardly in a position to say no to him," he said. "What I really wanted to do though was go on the stage. My mother was an actress and my parents had met through an amateur dramatics group.
After leaving Cambridge, Judge Tilling began a law course at the Gibson and Weldon College of Law, an independent college based in Chancery Lane.
"It was good practical stuff", he said. "We covered a wide range of subjects, including family law and crime. I didn't know what area I wanted to specialise in until I did a six-month pupillage in commercial law with Bob Alexander, who later became Lord Alexander and chairman of Natwest. He was such a high-powered silk and so clever that I just thought this wasn't for me. I then did another six-month pupillage in criminal law and I was hooked."
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When he qualified four years later as a barrister at the age of 25, Judge Tilling was impressively one of only two students from his course taken on by chambers in London. He said: "It was remarkable for both of us to be taken on because in those days, chambers only consisted of 10 or 12 barristers at most, whereas nowadays they are made up of sets of 40 or 50 barristers."
A life as a QC beckoned until a chance hospital visit several years later changed his outlook.
Dreams of being on stage: Judge Tilling harboured ambitions to be an actor
He said: "I went into hospital when I was 39 to have a minor operation on my nose, and while I was in there, they did a blood test and discovered I had leukaemia. It was pure chance that it was caught to be honest. They told me that I had only developed it in the last 10 days. They then just banged a lot of drugs into me, largely experimental ones, and I spent six months in hospital."
In his own words, the illness took a year out of his life and was the catalyst to becoming a judge. "It happened at the time when I might have been considering taking silk but I decided it was a better idea to try to get on the bench," he said. "I then became a Recorder, who sits on the bench but is also a practicing barrister at the same time."
"As a judge though, you have to remember that everything that comes out of your mouth is recorded. Sometimes it is just easier to get up and leave the courtroom for a while.”
Judge Tilling
After time at Croydon Crown Court as a senior circuit judge, Judge Tilling, a father of five, arrived in Kingston nine years ago as the resident judge. He has spent much of his time raising the reputation of Kingston Crown Court, which now has a security status in the south-east second only to Woolwich Crown Court and above that of the Old Bailey and has recently become a centre for terrorism trials.
He said: "At the moment, we've got the sentencing of one of the 21/7 failed London bombers and we recently had a high-security trial involving three Belmarsh prisoners. Having said that though, I also think it's important that we continue to try local cases, because it shows the citizens of Kingston that their own justice system is working and that they can feel safe."
Judge Tilling, a keen golfer and ardent Harlequins rugby fan, is one of only two judges at the court with a so-called "murder ticket", which means he can preside over murder cases moved from the Old Bailey. It is a mark of seniority, closely guarded and reserved only for senior circuit and high court judges.
"Tickets, and rape tickets in particular, were brought in after a few inappropriate remarks were made by judges during sensitive trials so it was decided that judges should go on courses to gain experience about how to handle important cases," he said. "There is no course as such for a murder ticket but it's really a case of experience."
When asked if there have been any particular trials throughout his career that have stayed with him, it is unsurprisingly a murder case that springs to his mind. "My first murder trial that I ever sat on at Kingston was about seven or eight years ago, and it was particularly gruesome. The defendant was found guilty of dismembering his victim while he was still alive, and I remember that he just sat there throughout his trial, clutching his bible. It was horrific," he said.
Faced with tales of murder, assault and rape almost on a daily basis, one of the hardest tasks faced by any judge is to suppress one's own emotions and remain neutral. "There are of course defendants that it is easy to take a dislike to," he said. "We had an actor in charged with assault who was so arrogant that he even managed to put the jury's back up.
"As a judge though, you have to remember that everything that comes out of your mouth is recorded. Sometimes it is just easier to get up and leave the courtroom for a while."
Posted by: george, willesden on 6:15pm Thu 1 May 08
Ive sat on a case watching charles tilling..I was fascinated....I thought judge tilling was so impessive..But after reading this artical and he having 5 kids I find him more human..
Ive sat on a case watching charles tilling..I was fascinated....I thought judge tilling was so impessive..But after reading this artical and he having 5 kids I find him more human..
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