Profile: Lord Justice Richards

Lord Justice Richards and his wife Lucy married in 1976

One of Britain's most senior appeal judges has been cleared of exposing himself to a woman on a train.

Lord Justice Richards denied the charges, but voluntarily agreed not to sit at the Court of Appeal until his case was completed.

Sir Stephen Price Richards, 56, has presided over a number of the UK's most high-profile cases.

Most recently, he heard an appeal brought by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber.

Government 'devil'

Lord Justice Richards was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon, and St John's College, Oxford.

He was called to the bar in 1975.

For five years in the 1990s, he served as First Junior Treasury Counsel - the so-called "Treasury Devil".

Regarded as one of the most demanding jobs in the legal world, the Devil represents the government in the civil courts.

LORD JUSTICE RICHARDS Called to the bar in 1975 Five years as the 'Treasury Devil' Made Lord Justice of Appeal in 2005 Earns £184,000 a year

Traditionally, the Treasury Devil does not become a Queen's Counsel but is automatically appointed to the High Court, as Lord Justice Richards was in 1997.

He was knighted that same year and was made a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2005, a £184,000-a-year post.

In January, in one of the last cases he ruled on before his arrest, Lord Justice Richards heard an appeal by the de Menezes family.

Sitting with two other judges, he agreed that the House of Lords could consider their protests against the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service not to bring criminal charges against the police who shot Mr Menezes.

The ruling offered some hope to the Brazilian's family who had previously been denied a full appeal.

'Salt couple'

In April 2006, Lord Justice Richards quashed the convictions of Ian and Angela Gay, a couple convicted of killing the boy they wanted to adopt with a salt overdose.

Lord Justice Richards heard the appeal of 'salt couple' Ian and Angela Gay

But in 2000, he turned down an appeal by Sally Clark against her conviction for murdering her sons.

Mrs Clark was eventually cleared of the crimes in 2003, but Lord Justice Richards and his colleagues ruled the evidence against her was "overwhelming" and she should stay in prison for a very long time.

Earlier in his career, he also turned down a request by British Guantanamo Bay inmate Feroz Abbasi for the UK government to intervene in his case.

Hill walking

Born in Wales, Lord Justice Richards has kept strong ties there.

He served as the presiding judge for Wales between 2000 and 2003 and also as deputy chairman of the Boundary Commission for Wales.

In Who's Who, he lists his pastimes as walking and relaxing in the Welsh hills.

His father, Alun Richards, headed the Welsh Office's Agriculture Department for three years between 1978 and 1981.

Lord Justice Richards lives in Wimbledon, south-west London.

He has been married to wife Lucy for more than 30 years and has two sons and a daughter.