Retired high court judge was character witness for Philip Chard, whose mother was her cleaner, and said she was ‘astonished’ by claims made against him

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A nightclub doorman has been found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl despite a prominent retired high court judge appearing in court to give character evidence on his behalf.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, a former president of the high court’s family division, told Exeter crown court she was astonished by the claims made against Philip Chard.

Lady Butler-Sloss, who last year stepped down as chair of the panel that was formed to examine the extent to which public institutions failed to investigate allegations of child abuse, said she had no concerns about Chard when he visited her home, where his mother worked as a cleaner.

But on Tuesday 44-year-old Chard was found guilty by a jury of rape and sexual activity with a child and was told he faces a lengthy jail sentence.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Former high court judge Lady Butler-Sloss said she had known Chard for 20 years. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The victim told the jury how Chard crept into her bedroom and put his hand inside her pyjamas before returning and forcing her to have sex. She said her mind went blank and she remembers feeling angry, shocked, frightened and confused.

Chard claimed nothing sexual happened during that night or on a number of previous occasions when the girl alleged he touched her intimately.

Butler-Sloss said she had known Chard for 20 years because his mother was her cleaner at her home in east Devon. Chard often took her to work and sometimes stayed there for a couple of hours.

She said: “I was president of the family division and tried numerous cases over 34 years, mostly dealing with sexual or physical abuse. I have considerable experience although I retired in 2005.

“I had no concerns about Mr Chard. I was astonished by these allegations. I think he is a much less probable offender than many I have come across.”

Chard, of Lympstone, Devon, shook and wept when the 10-2 majority guilty verdicts were returned. His lawyer asked the judge, Erik Salomonsen, to grant him bail before he is sentenced next month. But the judge remanded him in custody and said a lengthy jail sentence was inevitable.

Butler-Sloss was appointed by the government to chair the child sex abuse inquiry but stood down after critics pointed out a possible conflict of interest because her brother, the late Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general during the 1980s – one of the periods that is to be examined by the panel. The New Zealand high court judge Justice Lowell Goddard is now heading the panel.