“It is commonplace in the court list to see more Polish names, Romanian names, Albanian names, Russian names, reflecting all sorts of crimes from murder downwards,” he said, including “a lot of deception crimes”, larger scale frauds and violent assaults.

He said the increase was “inevitable” given the number of migrants who had come to Britain in recent years and stressed that the “huge majority are law abiding”.

But Judge Pontius added: “It is an extra financial burden, not least because where you have foreign defendants that means foreign witnesses as well and you need interpreters and they don’t come cheap.

“That has been a significant increase in expenditure for the Ministry of Justice. It also means the trials take longer, not least because suddenly everything must be translated verbatim for the witnesses and defendants involved.”

Judge Pontius said there had been times in his career when he had questioned why a foreign defendant, who had lived in the UK for some years, still needed a translator.

“I sometimes ask how long have you been in this country and sometimes they say 20 years and I am amazed they have not learnt better English,” he said.

He added that “nevertheless, one has to be careful a defendant can follow what is going on”. He said the surge in historic sex abuse cases after the death of Jimmy Savile was “troubling”.

Judge Pontius said: “I have to think what is the appropriate sentence for somebody who may well be in his 70s or 80s.

“Far more difficult from the jury’s point of view is they have to decide the case on evidence coming from both sides – victims and defendants – casting their minds back to offences that perhaps took place in the 60s or 70s, 40 and 50 years ago and that is not an easy task for a jury.”

He said the Criminal Justice System was having to cope with an increase in elderly prisoners, many with health problems, convicted of historic abuse.

“We all know there are a greater number of prisoners in their 60s, 70s and 80s serving prison sentences than ever before and the system must look after them with regard to their age and infirmity. The prison service does what it can but a very heavy burden falls on the staff in prisons.

“But as always there is not enough money and not enough facilities.”