Angry litigant 'rugby tackles' QC hearing his case telling him 'Finally, I'll get a new judge then'.

A man has been jailed for five months after he assaulted a judge whose decisions he did not agree with.

When Judge Robin Tolson QC went out of court to get a sandwich, Kevin Robinson, 44, ran across the road and knocked him against a shop front and then to the ground outside a central London family court.

Robinson said he barged into the circuit court judge unintentionally on 16 October, but was found guilty of assault by beating at Highbury Corner magistrates' court.

Giving evidence, Tolson said: "It's a long time since I played rugby. It had felt like an unexpected rugby tackle that you didn't see coming. He asked if I was all right but I don't want the court to think he had apologised. He was standing there rather gloating over his triumph.

"I said to him 'This is very serious Mr Robinson' and his words were something like 'then finally I'll get a new judge then'.

"He had been trying to get me to recuse myself because the decisions I have been making have not been the ones that he had wanted," he said, according to The Times.

The Sun reported that Robinson had been locked in a bitter court battle with his ex-wife for years.

On Facebook, Robinson said he had "bumped" into the judge who would not release his case to another judge, writing, wrote: "How many times do I have to hit you Tolson before there is animosity on your part?"

Judge Tanweer Ikram, the deputy chief magistrate said: "I am sure it was no accident. I am sure your intention, having seen him, was to shoulder barge into him. Your decision was clear, that by doing this you would remove the judge from hearing your case." He added: "No member of the judiciary should have to expect or tolerate this."

Robinson, of Tetbury, Gloucestershire, had to pay costs of £620 and a victim surcharge of £115, the Times reported.