judge's duty to help prevent crime by imposing robust punishments on those found guilty, and he became noted for the severity of his sentencing, which led to occasional calls from the "liberal establishment" for his resignation. In 1969 he sentenced the Kray twins, Reggie and Ronnie, to a minimum of 30 years in jail each, saying, "In my view, society has earned a rest from your activities." He remarked later that the Krays had only told the truth twice during the trial: when Reggie referred to a barrister as "a fat slob" and when Ronnie accused the judge of being biased. In 1970 he controversially gave what were seen as excessively long sentences to eight Cambridge University students who took part in the Garden House riot, a demonstration against the Greek military government that turned violent. He noted that the sentences would have been even longer but for the students' exposure to "the evil influence of some members of the university". There were few, if any, examples of serious violence at student demonstrations in the years which followed the trial. The following year he gave a 15-year sentence to Jake Prescott, a member of the Angry Brigade, for conspiracy to cause explosions. Prescott had been found not guilty of direct involvement in the bombings, but had admitted to addressing three envelopes. His sentence was reduced to ten years on appeal. Stevenson turned down a chance to join the Court of Appeal, a decision he later regretted, and was subsequently critical of some of its decisions. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in the 1973 New Year Honours. His reference to the Sexual Offences Act 1967 as a "buggers' charter" earned him a reprimand from the Lord Chancellor, Lord Elwyn-Jones, and a parliamentary motion in the UK House of Commons calling for his resignation. In 1976 the Court of Appeal overturned three of Stevenson's decisions in a single day, and Labour member of parliament Marcus Lipton tabled another parliamentary motion calling for his removal from the bench. But Eustace Roskill cautions that "It would be wrong to judge Stevenson simply by the notoriety of a few cases .... he showed great mercy to those whom he saw to be victims rather than aggressors." In the early 1970s, while conducting training sessions in sentencing for newly appointed recorders, Stevenson summed up his attitude: "You sentence off the top of your head. If