Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 17, 2016

Melford Stevenson (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987) was an English High Court judge. He was Judge Advocate at the 1945 war crimes trial of submariners from the U-852 for the Peleus affair. In 1954 Stevenson represented the UK Government during Jomo Kenyatta's unsuccessful appeal against his conviction for his part in the Mau Mau Uprising. He represented the litigants in the Crichel Down affair, which led to changes in the law on compulsory purchase. In 1955 he defended Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the UK, and in 1957 took part in the unsuccessful prosecution of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. As a High Court judge he gave life sentences in 1969 to the Kray twins for murder, and in 1971 gave Jake Prescott of the Angry Brigade fifteen years for conspiracy to cause explosions. When another judge, Sir Robin Dunn, described him as "the worst judge since the war", Lord Roskill pointed out that Stevenson could be merciful to those he saw as victims. He retired in 1979, and died in 1987.