Court told Kerry Sparrow never recovered from death of Judge Andrew Chubb in a fire in his garden shed

Kerry Sparrow, 45, was the lover of Judge Andrew Chubb, who was found dead in his garden shed less than an hour after telling his wife he wanted a divorce.

A court heard that Sparrow had not recovered from the trauma of a six-year legal battle to have the inquest reopened into Judge Chubb’s death.

Sparrow was intoxicated through amphetamines and alcohol at her home near Alresford and on July 26 decided to stay at a neighbour’s empty house for a few days.

She went for a swim in their pool and then used a chair to break in so she could go to sleep, said Kerry Richardson, prosecuting, at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court.

But the burglar alarm was activated and Sparrow smashed it with a curtain pole.

The police were alerted by the alarm and Sparrow, a former legal secretary, was arrested.

She told police she thought the address was a film set and she would be okay to stay there.

The householder estimated the damage to the property at £5,000.

Gavin James, for the probation service, outlined the background of how Sparrow was the mistress of Judge Chubb, who died in 2001, and how she campaigned to have the case reopened.

In the first investigation of the death in Somerset police had allowed the shed to be demolished and there was no full pathology report, said Mr James. The case was reopened and police arrested the judge’s widow, but she was never charged. The reopened inquest in 2007 recorded the death was unascertained, he added.

“Still to this day she hasn’t had satisfactory answers. It has taken a toll emotionally.

“She believes she is in a film and most of her life she is being filmed. She believes there will be a happy ending, someone is going to bring a happy ending.

“If someone doesn’t accept they have a problem it is difficult to get them to address it,”

said Mr James.

He added: “She needs to sit down with a GP and have a conversation and sit down with the mental health team and explore what has gone on. She has been through a lot.

She needs help, she has been through trauma.”

Sparrow, of Hobbs Close, Bishop’s Sutton, was not represented in court. She told the bench: “I know for a fact I am fine mentally. I have had a lot of trauma in my life and have reason to believe it was a film set house.

“There were reasons. I have to accept it was wrong. But I had been given information about my partner who died which would have caused anyone to have become distressed. It was quite harrowing.”

The court heard that Sparrow has no job but does not claim benefits. She has a “friend” who helps her out.

Sparrow admitted criminal damage, possession of a class A drug and failing to answer bail on September 30.

Magistrates gave her a conditional discharge for the criminal damage but fined her £100 for drugs possession, £60 for failing to attend court, with a £20 victim surcharge and £85 costs. She was also ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation.

Outside court Sparrow declined to comment.