Spinningfields<\/a> – where he has presided ever since.<\/p>\n\u201cI do a full range of criminal work; terrorist cases, murder cases, serious sexual offense cases, and I have also had the very great privilege of sitting in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division from 2018 to 2024 on a part-time basis, dealing with matters of appeal within that jurisdiction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As a senior judge within Manchester, Judge Potter has presided over some of the city’s most serious criminal cases – including scores of murder and serious sex offence cases.<\/p>\n
![\"Judge](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762623497_660_0_Judge-John-Potter.jpg\")
Judge John Potter reflects on his thirty nine year legal career, as he begins his retirement(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
They included most recently, Jamie Rothwell, a gang boss who orchestrated a shooting in Warrington before fleeing to Spain. He was locked up for 43 years.<\/p>\n
Other defendants include former TV weatherman Fred Talbot who was convicted of a string of sex offences against schoolboys over 35 years ago; and Ming Jiang who brutally murdered his friend then dumped his dismembered body in a suitcase.<\/p>\n
The judge said that each case requires preparation \u2018at the highest possible level\u2019.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI think you have to approach the management of any case with appropriate preparation and the first port of call for me would be to prepare as astutiously as I could to ensure that the trial process, or the sentencing process, is as fair and appropriate as it possibly could be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking about the impact of COVID, and the court’s response in the form of Nightingale Courts, the judge said there was a backlog that has built up. Judge Potter, who ran the Lowry Nightingale Court, said of the build up: \u201cThat’s built up partly because of underinvestment as well, from a variety of different governments and partly because of the caseload that the Crown Courts are now asked to deal with.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe live in difficult and challenging times in the criminal justice system. But it’s no good simply ignoring those difficult challenges that the system now causes us to confront.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m confident that with appropriate investment and with the will of professionals who work within the criminal justice system from each of the different agencies, we can work together to reduce the backlog and provide a more efficient service than we currently are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of his role, he said it is a position of \u2018very significant responsibility and privilege\u2019.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762623498_916_0_Judge-John-Potter.jpg\")
Judge John Potter reflects on his thirty nine year legal career, as he begins his retirement(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that certainly a few times a year over the last 16 years, I’ve been able to come out of court and thought to myself, \u2018well I did make a real difference there\u2019, I hope for the better, for a person connected to the criminal justice system, in particular, of course, a victim of serious abuse for example,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it isn’t really about whether I am pleased or sad about what I have done. I’ve always tried to work as hard as I could and do the best that I can and if that does result in a positive experience for somebody else who has been brought into the criminal justice often without wishing to be here, then good.\u201d<\/p>\n
A married father-of-two, Judge Potter plans to sort out \u2018quite a lot of years worth of detritus\u2019 in his South Manchester home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do genuinely look forward to doing that. I’m very grateful to have good health and the opportunity to spend more time with my wife, my family and my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few days before retiring, three students came in to observe the hearings before Judge Potter. Once they had concluded, the judge asked for the court to be cleared before removing his wig and speaking to them.<\/p>\n
![\"Judge](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762623499_458_0_Judge-John-Potter.jpg\")
Judge John Potter reflects on his thirty nine year legal career, as he begins his retirement(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
Asked about this, he said: \u201cI think it’s extremely important that young people are encouraged to come into the legal profession. Young people from all sorts of different backgrounds, all sorts of different areas of our community, as diverse an entry as possible, because our community can only benefit from diversity and can only improve as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung people are frequently discouraged from coming into law on the basis that the opportunities for them to advance with a career in law, as lucky as my career has been, is very limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take a different view. I say to young people that if they wish to come into law and if they are prepared to work hard, and that is a dream they wish to follow, they should be given every single encouragement to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should open doors for young people, not close them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“I say to young people that if they wish to come into law and if they are prepared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,30,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-557687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115515301514406752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Judge](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Judge-John-Potter.jpg\")
Judge John Potter reflects on his thirty nine year legal career, as he begins his retirement(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n