The Judge presided at Weatherfield Crown Court during the January 2009 sentencing of John Stape for the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Rosie Webster. Stape had pleaded guilty and the Judge took this into account when sentencing him, saying that if the serious charge had gone to trial then he would have imposed a three-year custodial sentence. Instead he received a two-year sentence, reduced by the period which he had already spent on remand.