Inge Bernstein

Ingeborg Bernstein ( Schwarz, 24 February 1931 – 26 April 2022) was an Austrian-born English circuit judge.

Early life and education Ingeborg Schwarz was born on 24 February 1931 in Vienna, Austria, to Anna and Herman Schwarz. Her mother died when Ingeborg was only two and she was raised by her father and her grandmother Regina Politzer.

In 1994, she used the racist phrase "nigger in the woodpile" in relation to two police officers in a summation to a Liverpool county court jury. She immediately apologised for the turn of phrase. However, the plaintiff Valentine Reid, a black man, brought a damages action to the Court of Appeal (Reid v Chief Constable of Merseyside The appeal was rejected in 1996, ruled as an inadvertent (but highly offensive and inappropriate) slip of the tongue which was immediately withdrawn, and one which did not refer to the plaintiff or prejudice the jury against him. Bernstein died on 26 April 2022, at the age of 91.