Four Judge Rinder cases show how justice is served kids-style on this hilarious Christmas TV special

STANDING tall in front of the judge, confident Evie tells the packed courtroom her cousin must go to prison.

The unusual thing is that she is only three and the crime she is accusing six-year-old Elliot of is breaking her magic fairy wand.

She said: “This is the first time Elliot has broken anything of mine — and it was really sad. He should go to prison.”

The Sun on Sunday was behind the scenes at TV legal bigwig Judge Rinder’s Christmas Kids Court — where feuding adults have been replaced by cheeky kids and their playground disputes. And the result is courtroom chaos.

Sun columnist and Strictly star Judge Rinder — real name Robert Rinder, 40, who has overseen more than 500 episodes of his adult ITV2 show — said: “We had kids who were more eloquent than a lot of some adults. They were clear and concise.

“It’s amazing when you meet young people and you’re really refreshed by their complete underlying sense, almost a pre-existing understanding of what fairness is.

“If you have been unfair to a young person they absolutely know it, and boy will they let you know. I’m a very threatening cross examiner but they reply, ‘No, you’re not’.

“There was a case with the three-year-old who argued with her cousin in the courtroom and I completely lost control. I have never lost control with adults, they listen to me. They are intimidated by my sense of authoritative charisma. But it didn’t work in this case.”

The idea of Christmas Kids Court is to cut down on festive rows and encourage the youngsters to put their differences behind them.

'My cousin ruined my Frozen wand. He should go to prison'

First on the stand are cousins Evie, three, and Elliot, six. She was so mad he pulled off the ribbons from her special Frozen wand that she wants to sue him.

Evie, who wants to be a princess or a policewoman when she grows up, was so proud of the wand she made at nursery that she showed her older cousin when he came to her house. But she says he “snapped it in half”.

Little Elliot admits he pulled the ribbons off it — but claims it was in self-defence after Evie started smacking him.

He argues: “It was a princess wand. I don’t like princesses or fairies, they’re for girls. I like dinosaurs because they’re scary.”

Elliot — who wants to be a scaffolder when he grows up — tells Judge Rinder he doesn’t really like to play with Evie because she’s so boisterous they always end up fighting.

'My friend dropped my iPad on the floor and won’t admit it'

Two keen football players are next and show the Judge who is boss when they try to settle a dispute over a broken iPad.

Owen, seven, claims he saw best friend and team-mate Harris, six, drop his new tablet on the floor during a sleepover.

Harris insists it fell by “magic” — and he is so adamant even the Judge believed him. He says: “The tablet meant a lot to me. I would do my homework on it, play games and watch YouTube. I saw Harris drop it on the floor by my fridge but he won’t admit the truth.”

But Harris hit back: “I didn’t drop it. It was magic. I was stood up and it fell on to the floor off the table. I was nowhere near it. It fell by magic.

“Owen was really upset with me and was chasing me around the house. But I’m not paying anything.”

While the result remains to be seen, the boys both leave their time on the programme with England shirts signed by striker Harry Kane.

The Judge, a trained barrister, said: “I said to Harris ‘I have cross-examined some of the most fearsome people but he just replied ‘and?’. I have never seen a litigant give me such undivided indifference. And I think it is that sort of thing that will make him play for England.”

Judge Rinder hopes the children’s experience on the show will give them some understanding of what it takes to stick up for yourself.

'My best friend told a boy I had a crush on him'

Daisy, eight, headed into the court to see Judge Rinder in a bid to sue her best mate Billie for embarrassing her at school. The pair, from Cardiff, have been best friends since nursery but recently Billie betrayed her confidence by telling Rocco, a boy at their school, that Daisy has a crush on him.

Cheeky Daisy tells the Judge she asked Billie to keep it a secret — but the next day she went up to Rocco and told him outright.

Daisy says: “I have had a crush on a boy in our school for about four months, he’s called Rocco.

“I like that he can be really silly and he makes me laugh. I like his hair too. Rocco and I are just friends, which is good, but Billie could have made things worse!” But best pal Billie, seven, hits back: “I thought I was doing her a favour and it just went wrong.

“Besides, she never told me that it was a secret anyway.”

Judge Rinder, who has his dog Rocco — also in robes — by his side keeping an eye on proceedings, is undecided.

'I spent hours making a Lego ship and my sister smashed it up'

Finally, Zachariah, six, turns to the Judge for help suing his sister Lanie for “loss of time”.

He claims he spent hours building a Lego ship which he called the Titanic. He was so proud of it he took it round to his cousin Jake’s to show it off.

But after a trip to the loo he walked back in Jake’s room to find his much-loved Lego shop in pieces. He blamed Jake, six, but his cousin said nine-year-old Lanie was the culprit.

Zachariah says: “So we were in Jake’s room playing with Titanic. I needed the toilet and Jake went to get ice cubes to make an iceberg for the ship.

“After the toilet I went back into Jake’s room and Titanic was all smashed into pieces. I said to Jake, ‘What have you done?’

“But Jake denied it and blamed it on my sister Lanie. But she reckoned she was in another room and had nothing to do with it. Keen contortionist Lanie, nine, eventually did confess to breaking the Lego ship — but claimed it was an accident.

She reckons she doesn’t owe Zachariah anything because she spent her own time helping him build the ship.

She says: “I was in the other room doing contortion while they were playing with the ship.

“I then walked into Jake’s room on my hands while they were downstairs, and I fell into a crab position and my feet and legs accidentally landed on Titanic and broke it.

“Pieces went everywhere and some of them went under the drawers.

“I didn’t want to get in trouble. My brother Zachariah didn’t know who to believe. In the end he did ‘Eeny meeny miny mo’ between me and Jake to decide who was to blame and it thankfully landed on Jake.”

Judge Rinder summed up: “It’s the first time I’ve ever been in a situation where it seems to be the young people are completely indifferent to me.

“I think they’re little Judge Rinders in the making.”

• Judge Rinder’s Christmas Kids Court will air on Christmas Eve at 5.30pm on ITV.