Judge Caroline Ludlow took the unusual step to sentence a man over a cell phone. The defendant, Aftab Ahmed, had earlier pled guilty in the case. However a crash on the highway prevented him from arriving on time for his sentencing.

Mr. Ahmed called and alerted the judge about his delay. ''When she heard of the problem, the judge said that to save wasting public money by adjourning the case she was considering passing sentence over the phone," said court clerk Rachel Bonner.

''She asked the prosecution counsel if he could think of any reason in law why she couldn't and when no reason was offered she went ahead.''

Ahmed was then called by his lawyer to make sure the unusual situation was acceptable. After hearing mitigation, Ms. Ludlow called Ahmed's cell phone and sentenced him to a 140-hour community punishment order and ordered him to pay £750 ($2,310) in costs.