A former Lord Chief Justice has called on politicians to stop criticising judges.

In his first public comments since stepping down in September, Lord Woolf said it was counterproductive for the Government to attack the judiciary.

"If you knock and knock again, and knock again, at individual judges in intemperate terms, then really it is very damaging," he told BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action programme.

"It maybe is an open goal but it is an own goal which the Government scores in those circumstances."

Lord Woolf also issued a staunch defence of the Human Rights Act, at a time when Tony Blair has suggested it might need to be reviewed.

"Notwithstanding the recent clamour, which I think is not based on sound foundations, the reality is that the Act has day in, day out been applied by the courts with no one being at all disturbed by the results," he said.

Lord Woolf also warned of the dangers of the Sentencing Guidelines Council in reducing the scope of judges to set jail terms.

In the interview, to be broadcast this afternoon, Lord Woolf said: "The one danger of a body like the Sentencing Guidelines Council is not that its guidance reduces sentences, it actually puts them up.

"It puts them up because it reduces the discretion of the individual judge," he said.

Don't blame the judges Read District Judge Stephen Gerlis' thoughts on the recent round of judiciary bashing

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