In the wake of James Morton’s column about attacks on judges, Obiter has received correspondence from James S Vickers taking issue with the assertion that the late Ann Goddard was the only judge in living memory to have been attacked in a British court.

Vickers points out: ‘There is of course Lt. Col Paddy Bryson, who was a registrar in Liverpool many years ago.

'He was shot at whilst sitting as a registrar in bankruptcy or something similar. I know you could argue that registrars weren’t judges, but seeing as their direct descendants are now called district judges, perhaps we could stretch a point.

'Anyway, at the age of 92 he still toddles around Formby on his mobility scooter – I wonder how many people who stand next to him in the queue in Waitrose realise what a colourful past this old man had.’