A CROWN court judge who was born and raised in Minchinhampton, and attended Beaudesert School, has died, aged 88.

Judge Gabriel Hutton, who presided at Gloucester Crown Court for seventeen years, died at his home in Dursley, died on October 1 with his family at his bedside.

The judge, whose sentences and comments were often controversial during his time at the court from 1986 to 2003, was the fourth generation of his family to sit in judgement.

Judge Hutton, a father of three and grandfather of five, spent 47 years in the legal profession, first as a barrister and then as a Recorder and judge.

He is survived by his wife Deborah - a former JP and High Sheriff of Gloucestershire - children Joanna, Tamsin and Alexander, and grandchildren Columba, Flora, Beth, Iona and Ramsay.

The family say his funeral and burial at Harescombe Church will be private and donations in his memory can be made to the Alzheimer's Society.

Judge Hutton's retirement in 2003 at the age of 70 followed one of his most controversial moments on the bench - when he was accused of falling asleep during the final stages of a rape trial at Gloucester Crown Court in December 2001. The incident led to him being reprimanded by the Lord Chancellor.

The trial had to be abandoned but the defendant was later convicted of rape at a retrial.

One incident still remembered at the court occurred when Judge Hutton appeared ignorant about a pair of pink fur-lined handcuffs exhibited in a case - and suggested they were for keeping the wrists warm.

He also raised eyebrows during another case when he admitted he did not know what a karaoke machine was - or what Persil Colour is for.

On another occasion he provoked protests when he passed a two year jail term on a man convicted of attempted rape - but then suspended 23 months of the sentence.

The judge told the defendant that, with remission, he would only have to serve two weeks and he said he hoped the defendant's employers would treat that time as his annual holiday and keep his job open for him.

Throughout his judicial career Judge Hutton had a strict policy of not discussing cases with the media. Whenever he swore in new magistrates in his courtroom he always advised them never to speak to the press after cases.

At the time of his retirement he said "My forebears have been judges for three generations. I never even thought of doing anything else."

Born in Minchinhampton, on August 27, 1932, Judge Hutton was the middle son of Robert and Elfrieda Hutton.

Educated at Beaudesert Prep School, Minchinhampton, and Marlborough College, Judge Hutton then went on to read law at Trinity College, Cambridge.

He was called to the Bar in 1956. He practised on the Oxford circuit as a barrister until he was appointed deputy chairman of Gloucestershire Quarter Sessions (the predecessor of the Crown Court system) in 1971.

When the Quarter Sessions were abolished and replaced by Crown Courts the following year, Judge Hutton became Recorder of the Crown Court in Bristol. In January, 1978, he was appointed as a Circuit judge on the newly formed Western Circuit. In that position he presided over cases in magistrates and county courts throughout Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

In 1987 he moved to Gloucester Crown Court as resident judge following the retirement of Judge Anthony Bulger.

That move meant he became the third generation of his family to sit on the bench in Gloucester.

His great-grandfather had been a judge in Lancashire. His grandfather, Stamford Hutton, had been chairman of Gloucestershire Quarter Sessions from 1937 to 1941 and his father Robert Hutton was chairman from 1943 to 1970.

Interviewed at the time of his retirement Judge Hutton said he never dwelt on cases or worried about his decisions after he had passed sentence.

"I never fret," he said. "I would always deal with a case professionally and then immediately forget about it."

At his final sitting when lawyers and court officials made farewell speeches paying tribute to the judge he received unexpected praise from a former defendant sitting in the public gallery.

Ricky Johnson, who had been sentenced by the judge several times, stood up just as Judge Hutton was about to open his farewell gift of a fly fishing rod, and said "May I say, from this side, thank you for fairness!"

Judge Hutton later recalled the incident, saying "At the end of the speeches a former defendant stood up in the gallery and said I had been a very fair judge. It was quite unexpected but nice to hear."

A sailing, fishing and shooting enthusiast, Judge Hutton also rode horses and was the chairman of Berkeley Hunt. He was also chairman of the Gloucestershire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England.