Robin Tolson, a family court judge who sparked a national outcry for telling a rape victim in court she was responsible for her assault, has stepped down. The comment was made in December 2019, during a hearing for the case.
The development comes after several MPs said the judge should be barred from handling domestic violence and rape cases.
Tolson announced his departure in an email he sent to Central Family Court users, calling the job “thankless’, and said he made the decision with “considerable regret”. He also stressed that he had stepped down for personal reasons, and because he wanted “a life better suited to his personal circumstances.”
In the statement, he said:
“Having been instrumental in having the post of DFJ [Designated Family Judge] re-graded to senior circuit judge level, I decided late last year not to apply when it was re-advertised. I must stress this was for personal reasons and had nothing to do with any other factor. Although the president was kind enough recently to stress his confidence in me as DFJ here, the role is arduous and, at times, thankless; and I desire a life better suited to my personal circumstances. It is as simple as that.
You the court users will glimpse, perhaps more than glimpse, some of the difficulties we – judges and staff alike – have faced here in court and behind the scenes at the business end of a family justice system which, if I may offer a personal view just for a moment, seems increasingly incapable of meeting the needs of its users: not enough time or money for the necessary and deserving; and a tendency to concentrate resources on the unnecessary, complicating the simple and pandering to agendas which are at odds with reality or a diversion at best.”
Tolson’s judgment in a case involving a contact order for a child garnered national media coverage at the beginning of the year when he incorrectly told a mother who had said she had been raped, that the assault by her abusive husband hadn’t constituted rape because she had not fought back.
The comment, along with several other flawed interpretations of law and process by the judge led the High Court to conclude that Tolson’s views were obsolete and that his handling of the case was “so flawed as to require a retrial”. Ms Justice Russell allowed the case to go to appeal, and commented in her reasoning that Tolson’s views were outdated.
Members of Parliament, including Louise Haigh and Tulip Siddiq condemned the judge’s views on rape, while a letter signed by 130 lawyers and campaigners called for immediate action to ensure family judges were properly trained to deal with rape cases.
Tolson will leave his judicial position on 21st August.
Useful Links:
- Family judge steps down from ‘thankless’ leadership role
- Male judge who was slammed for telling a woman she wasn’t raped because she didn’t fight back ‘makes the same ruling again in a second case’
- Angry litigant jailed for flooring judge with a flying rugby tackle
Researching Reform 
You should be ashamed of yourself for referring to an alleged victim as a victim, alleged rape as rape, and for using the image of a male perpetrator and a female victim at the end of the piece. In about 60% of cases of inter-personal violence in heterosexual couples, it is bi-directional. Where it is uni-directional the perpetrator is twice as likely to be the woman as the man. Good luck in finding stock images of female perpetrators and male victims… I recommend you read William Collins’s book “The Empathy Gap” for the truth about IPV, rape, and so much else.
My blog piece on your article https://j4mb.org.uk/2020/08/12/family-judge-who-blamed-alleged-victim-in-alleged-rape-case-steps-down/.
Mike Buchanan
Chairman
JUSTICE FOR MEN & BOYS
(and the women who love them)
http://j4mb.org.uk
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Well don’t you talk a lot of rubbish. Men are much more likely to be the abuser and women the victim. At least 26 women were killed by their partners during lockdown. Zero men. Get your facts right https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/domestic-abuse-is-a-gendered-crime/
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@Clair S
If you doubt Mike’s statistical claims, you are entitled to ask him to cite sources, which would be more polite than referring to Mike’s claims as “rubbish” and asking him to get his facts right.
You make counter-claims, which you seem to think contradict Mike’s claims: “At least 26 women were killed by their partners during lockdown. Zero men.” I am asking you to cite your sources for those claims of yours. (The link you gave does not support your claims.)
It is entirely possible that lethal domestic violence leaves more women dead than men, even if the majority of domestic violence was female-on-male. Lethal domestic violence could typically arise when a man and a woman fight so fiercely that one or other of them is likely to end up dead. Non-mutual DV, in which there is a clear distinction between the sole perpetrator and the innocent victim, probably doesn’t end in the victims’ deaths often.
This said, I think my own primary comment on this topic is more relevant than the disputed gender distribution of domestic violence. All the same, my money is on Mike Buchanon as the winner of the quarrel about statistics you have picked with him. I am sure he can back up his claims with reputable sources. Your only hope is that he doesn’t bother to.
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@ Clair S
You’re citing Women’s Aid as a reliable source of stats on DV? Hilarious. I’ve presented them a “Lying Feminist of the Month” award in the past, let me know if you’d like the link.. But let’s say the stats are correct, if only for the sake of argument. Firstly, they say literally nothing about the overwhelming majority of cases of DV, which don’t end in deaths.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that there are 20 million heterosexual couples in the UK. Looking at the stats from another angle, what proportion of women were NOT killed in the lockdown? I make it 99.9999%. Do you still argue – as do the liars at Women’s Aid – that DV is a gendered crime? Really? The idea that DV is a gendered crime has been utterly debunked over decades. Read William Collins’s books for the facts, and leave your brainwashing behind.
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@ Clare S
The playlist of the videos presented at our online conference on DV a few months ago, half the speakers were women including Prof Nicola Graham-Kevan and our party’s leader, Elizabeth Hobson https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMscr0TpRqjnZVjAituKqJr9kyVQAJnF
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“Tolson’s judgment in a case involving a contact order for a child garnered national media coverage at the beginning of the year when he incorrectly told a mother who had said she had been raped, that the assault by her abusive husband didn’t constitute rape because she didn’t fight back.”
As I recall it, much of the reportage falsely alleged that, but it wasn’t true. It was a family matter, not a criminal trial in which anybody was convicted or acquitted of rape. Tolson correctly took into account all the evidence, when reaching a finding of fact on the balance of probabilitites.
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Absolutely applicable to our hearing and [edited] conduct!
On Wed, 12 Aug 2020 at 10:52, Researching Reform wrote:
> > > > > > > Natasha posted: “Robin Tolson, a family court judge who sparked a national > outcry for telling a rape victim in court she was responsible for her > assault, has stepped down. The comment was made in December 2019, during a > hearing for the case. > > The development comes after s” > > > >
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This judge heared me out in my domestic violence case, and he let me take my baby home after 14 long months. Whatever they say in any articles about Mr tolson, he literally saved my life because if he had not listened to me and actually heated my side of things I probably would not be here today. Thank you judge tokson; they need more like you x
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