Island’s newest judge has military background
A NEW Judge of the Magistrate’s Court has had a different career path to that of his predecessors.
Marc Davies was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1998 and the Guernsey Bar in 2021.
In the interim he spent 10 years in the Army, attending the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
During that time he was deployed at various times to Northern Ireland and Cyprus, and he undertook two tours of Afghanistan.
As well as conducting work for the prosecuting authority in the Adjutant General’s Corps, he also conducted training of personnel to ensure that the many soldiers deployed understood the rules of engagement and other legalities involved in being in the Helmand Province.
Judge Davies said he and his wife had set their sights on moving to Guernsey after making several visits to friends on the island.
It was quite by chance that while working in UK he saw that the Law Officers of the Crown were advertising for a new prosecutor.
‘We arrived here in October 2019 and then the pandemic struck early the following year,’ he said.
‘We had a few months of normality and getting to know the island but then we had to adapt to life with Covid.
‘Looking back now, Guernsey is everything we ever hoped it could be.
‘I cannot think of a better place to raise a child.’
He said it was a real honour to have been appointed to his new role, as well as that of a Lt-Bailiff, which will enable him to preside over the Royal Court.
‘I want to play my part in a system where the delivery of justice is prompt and accessible,’ he said.
Judge Davies was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
He moved to Guernsey after nearly five years in chambers in Birmingham where he split his time between defence and prosecution work.
After graduating in law at Durham University and qualifying as an English barrister, he undertook his pupillage in London, before returning to the North East where he developed a mixed common law practice in Durham.
He became a specialist prosecutor for rape and serious sexual offences.
As defence counsel he was involved in a grooming case that resulted in an acquittal after a trial that lasted five months.
