Chaos as judge is punched in court.
A judge was punched several times in the face yesterday during an attack in his courtroom.
High Court judge Christopher Pitchford, 55, was left clutching his face after the attack by an as yet unnamed man.
He suffered bruising after being hit on the bridge of his nose, left eye and forehead.
Mr Justice Pitchford had been hearing emergency pleas for injunctions when the attack took place.
The man, apparently angry after the judge rejected his case, lunged forward at the Royal Courts of Justice in Central London.
A court usher was also attacked when he and the clerk tried unsuccessfully to stop the man reaching the judge.
The man is also believed to have thrown and smashed a glass table lamp against the judge's bench before the panic alarm was activated and he was restrained by court staff.
Police were called and the man was arrested before being taken to Charing Cross police station, Central London, for questioning.
Speaking from his farmhouse in Mid Glamorgan, South Wales, last night, Sir Christopher said: 'I have minor facial injuries as a result of an incident in court.
'I am pleased to be at home with my family. I will be fit to return to work on Monday, and that's where I will be.'
Last week, Mr Justice Pitchford granted Ulrika Jonsson an injunction banning footballer Stan Collymore from selling any video footage or stills of her naked or engaged in sexual activity.
Staff in the Interim Applications Court yesterday described him as a popular and humane judge.
Said one: 'He is very well thought of. Staff were very concerned when they heard what had happened.
'He is held in high regard by many people and has a reputation for being fair.'
A police spokesman said last night: 'We were called at around 2.45pm to the Royal Courts of Justice after hearing reports that there had been an assault on a judge and a court usher.
'There was also believed to be some criminal damage.' Sir Christopher was appointed to the High Court bench two years ago after working as a QC on the Wales and Chester Circuit.
He and his wife have two sons and live on a farm in South Wales. He cites fishing as one of his main hobbies.
Last January, Judge Ann Goddard, 64, suffered a severely bruised eye and a facial cut needing five stitches after she was attacked by a murder case defendant at the Old Bailey.
The 33-year-old man vaulted out of the dock and hurled a carafe of water at her, before jumping on to the judge's platform and hitting her about the face.