A judge has said he’ll only accept character references for convicted persons if the author is willing to come to court to take the stand.

It follows a recent pronouncement from the Court of Appeal which suggested that anyone who wants to give a testimonial should be available for cross-examination.

One of the guiding principles of sentencing is that a judge must look at the offender as well as the offence.

Caracter references are often used to try and give the judge a better insight into who the person in the dock is.

It’s not known what weight, if any, a judge gives to them – but ordinarily they’re received by the court with no questions asked and are rarely read out in open court.

Recently, the Court of Appeal issued a dictum suggesting that anyone who wants to provide a testimonial should be in court for cross-examination.

Before he sentenced a Sligo man today for abusing three children between 1983 and 1993, Mr Justice Brian Keane refused to accept three character references unless those who wrote them were willing to come to court and take the stand.

He said this would also allow for cross-examination to take place.

The man, who can’t be identified to protect the identities of the children, was jailed for eleven years.

The children were aged between five and thirteen years of age at the time.

Before sentencing the man today, Judge Keane noted that he had shown no remorse for what he did to his children and he commended the survivors for their courage in coming forward.