He gave the judgment at first instance which was affirmed in both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in R v Chaytor and passed sentences in excess of 12 months' imprisonment on MPs David Chaytor,[3] Elliot Morley,[4] Jim Devine[5] and Eric Illsley[6] and on Tory peers Lord Taylor of Warwick[7] and Lord Hanningfield.
[8] During these cases he was noted for strongly criticising the leaders of all three major parties for attacking the defendant MPs' use of legal aid and attempted reliance upon Parliamentary privilege during the 2010 election campaign,[9] and for requiring Lord Sugar to remove a tweet commenting on the ongoing proceedings.
[10] On 17 April 2012, Saunders sentenced Darrel Desuze to detention for a term of eight years for the manslaughter of Richard Mannington Bowes during the 2011 England riots and his mother Lavinia Desuze to imprisonment for eighteen months for perverting the course of justice after she destroyed clothing worn by her son on the day of the offence.
[11] In late 2013 and the first half of 2014, Saunders was the judge in charge of the high-profile 'hacking trial' that arose out of the News International phone hacking scandal.
The internet is generally not controlled and often fuelled by opinion and speculation, a great deal of information is imparted and received by people through Facebook and Twitter.