Judge claims wife punched herself

James Allen QC, 62, told the court that his wife’s bruises were self-inflicted after she punched herself in the face. He claimed that, as the row continued, his wife snatched his glasses and crushed them to stop him leaving, before trying to grab the car keys from the ignition.

Bradford magistrates were told that Melanie Allen was cooking the evening meal when their cleaner, Amanda Clark, arrived and wanted to speak to her. Mr Allen was unaware that Mrs Clark’s mother had just been diagnosed with cancer. He took a file from his study and went upstairs to read until he heard Mrs Clark leave the house in Wakefield 90 minutes later.

“To be honest, I was irritable,” he told the court. “When I entered the kitchen I told the wife I was not very happy with Mrs Clark having visited. I had had nothing to eat all day and could not be bothered now.” He said the argument became more heated and he intended to drive away while his wife, an assistant deputy coroner, “cooled off”.

“I decided the best thing would be to put some distance between us,” said Mr Clark. “I started to move towards the kitchen door. My wife placed her body between myself and the kitchen door and repeated I was not leaving.” His wife then balled her fists and struck herself in the face in front of him.

When he managed to reach the garage doors, he said, his wife grabbed his glasses from his face and screwed them up. As one of the garage doors started to rise, it struck his wife’s leg, causing her to stumble.

Mrs Allen then jumped into the passenger seat, reached over and tried to reach the keys. The judge said he used one hand to fend her off and she tried to bite his hand.

He finally drove off and spent the night at his parents’ home 10 miles away.

The judge, married for 14 years, had been due to fly to the Isle of Man the next evening for a week-long sitting but when he agreed to be interviewed by police the next afternoon, he was arrested and held in a police cell. He was subsequently bailed with a condition he live at his

parents’ home.

The row happened in February last year but in April, the judge said, he returned to live with his wife and had been there ever since.

Mr Allen said his wife had harmed herself before, including cutting her wrist, after which he had taken her to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

Under cross-examination, he admitted that, with hindsight, he should have checked his wife’s injuries.

“In hindsight, I should have taken her in my arms and told her I loved her. But this was in the heat of an argument,” he added.

Mrs Allen, 45, told the court she had acted “pathetically” when her husband tried to leave.

She claimed she hit herself in the face three times with clenched fists out of sheer frustration in the hope he would not go.

She said it never crossed her mind what the police would do.

“I just wanted to bring James to his senses,” she said.

Mr Allen denies common assault. The trial continues.