A High Court judge is presiding over cases at Maidstone's Crown Court today.

Mr Justice Stuart-Smith was accompanied by the High Sheriff of Kent George Jessel when he arrived at the courthouse in Barker Road.

The judge received a traditional welcome from mayor Malcolm Greer as well as other officials in their finery before hearings began this morning.

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Mr Justice Stuart-Smith was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997 and the High Court in 2012. He became a presiding judge of the South Eastern Circuit in 2014.