CONTROVERSIAL Judge Julian Hall has returned to Oxford Crown Court and has shown yet again he has the knack of handing down sentences that baffle most law-abiding citizens.

This time he has given an absolute discharge – that’s no punishment whatsoever – to the notorious Leslie Belcher after he thrust a ball-bearing gun into the face of a man in Magdalen Road, East Oxford.

Belcher was issued with an antisocial behaviour order just three months ago.

According to Judge Hall, Belcher’s victim “thoroughly deserved to be frightened”.

This was the judge, remember, who gave a three-year supervision order to a paedophile and a two-year sentence to a child rapist, later doubled by the Appeal Court.

He, along with many Oxford people, will know of Belcher’s past convictions, including threatening and disorderly behaviour, and the terms of his antisocial behaviour order, which bans “threatening or using violence”.

Instead, letting Belcher off without even a slap on the wrist sends out a dangerous message to him and the wider community.

We await with interest whether further defendants will be let go because their victim “deserved it”.