A senior judge rang a radio phone-in to tell listeners that CCTV is "completely useless" and wastes "enormous" sums of public money.

Now the comments of Judge Peter Fox QC have been condemned an "irresponsible" and "an encouragement to commit crime."

Judge Fox was driving into Teesside Crown Court, Middlesbrough, when he heard an item on BBC Radio Cleveland about CCTV.

Radio show host Matthew Davies invited listeners to ring in with their views and Judge Fox picked up the phone when he arrived at the Crown Court.

""I'm pleased that CCTV is being extended, the potential in enormous to show whether a person did or did not commit a particular crime, but what I want to do is put in a plea for quality rather than quantity" said Judge Fox.

""Because whether it is street CCTV or shops or service stations the footage in almost always so poor as to he unclean. Valuable resources are being wasted by police and lawyers. Cases are costing enormous sums of money poring over the footage which turns out to be completely useless.''

Government figures show that #208m of public money has been spent in the past nine years installing 1,250 CCTV schemes throughout Britain.

But their value was called into question by Judge Fox, the most senior Judge at Teesside Crown Court.

He said: "I preside over some very serious cases, murder rape and robbery. The footage from CCTV In increasingly being used but it in extremely rare indeed for it to be of any use. "If I can put in an strong a plea as I can please for those that are responsible for putting in the kit, spending the money, to make sure that it really will produce the goods and show the features of the person in question or the type of clothing that the people are wearing who are committing theme crimes.'' When Mr Davies suggested CCTV images shown on Crimestoppers were often so blurred it was impossible to Identify anyone, Judge Fox replied: "Yes, well it's no better in court and you can Imagine that juries look at this footage and think well what on earth are we going to make of it?

"It really is very unusual for it to be any good at all and at the moment a lot of money in being wasted so can I just ask those who are responsible for spending it and choosing the kit to think of how it's going to be used eventually.

"I don't know whether CCTV puts people off from committing crime or not, that's not my business, my view's no better than anyone elses. But what I can say is, from my extensive experience here in Crown Court so far, it is next to useless and we really must improve the quality of the tape.''

Show host Mr Davies, 34, had no prior knowledge that the Judge was ringing in and was simply told it was "Peter on line four".

""I recognised his voice straight away and he confirmed on air who he was' said Mr Davies.

""It's good to know that those in powerful positions do listen in and that they are prepared to contribute to the debate".

Judge Fox called the show during a debate on the extension of CCTV by Redcar and Cleveland Council to Eston on the North-East coast of Teesside.

The six new cameras, installed at a cost of £160,000, means Redcar and Cleveland Council now has nearly 120 cameras and brings to over £3m the total spent in the area over the past ten years.

Coun Dave McLuckie, the council's lead member for Community Safety, condemned the Judge's public intervention.

"I have grave concerns that someone so eminent in the legal profession should be so irresponsible an to encourage all and sundry to go out and commit crime in front of CCTV cameras by declaring any evidence collected in useless'' said Coun McLuckie.

"The cameras are a major deterent to crime occuring in the first place and have reduced offending by up to 60per cent in some areas.

"I would warn any criminals out there that Judge Fox is gravely mistaken. We have had many successful prosecutions using the images collected including a major credit card scam and drug offences.

"We continually replace our cameras with the latent digital technology and the images are now full colour and of a very high resolution."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Our research shown that CCTV is effective both in terms of a deterrent and also for evidential purposes.

"We constantly evaluate the projects and ensure we make the best possible use of improving technology."