A SENIOR lawyer stunned a courtroom when he walked in wearing a woman’s skirt, patterned blouse, lace stockings and carrying a handbag.

He asked the judge to call him Ms Alice.

Bob Moodie, 67, a 6ft 4in former police officer and law lecturer — and once a noted rugby player — told the High Court in Wellington that he had decided to wear women’s clothing because he no longer wished to be a part of what he called the male ethos in New Zealand, including that existing in the judiciary.

Dr Moodie, who was in court to face contempt charges, said: “I will now, as a lawyer, be wearing women’s clothing. The deeper the cover-up the prettier the frocks.”

Outside the court the balding, moustachioed Dr Moodie said that he was deeply frustrated over the handling by judges of a long-running case in which he represented a farming couple who were held responsible when an army-built bridge on their property collapsed, killing a beekeeper.

Last month the couple were ordered by the New Zealand Court of Appeal to pay legal costs of NZ$10,000 (£3,400) to the Army.

Dr Moodie, a married father of three, said that his action on Monday was not a publicity stunt. He said that he was heterosexual but had always had a strong female gender bias and preferred women’s clothes. Lifting his skirt to show reporters lace stockings covering his legs, he said that the matching navy blue jacket and skirt was one of several new outfits that he had made recently.

He intended to wear women’s clothing in future to draw attention to “the old boy network” within the New Zealand judiciary. He said that the judicial handling of his clients in the bridge case “caused me to reflect on what it means to be male in this country. I’ve decided I don’t actually want to be part of that ethos.”

Dr Moodie was in court for a preliminary hearing on contempt charges brought against him by the Solicitor-General for posting a suppressed report, connected to the long-running bridge case, on the internet. Dr Moodie says that the report demonstrated that the Army — and not his clients — was responsible for the bridge collapse.

“I prefer and relate to the gender which is involved in the creation and nurturing of life. Giving and sharing and also, I believe, fairness,” Dr Moodie said. “My confidence in the male ethos is zilch. It’s a culture of intimidation, authority, power and control.

“The sexes are not opposite, they’re complementary,” he said, drawing comparisons with the All Blacks rugby side. “The All Blacks front row is a very important part of maleness and is not to be disparaged at all, but neither should the guy who wants to do ballet.”

In the late 1970s and 1980s, when he was head of the New Zealand Police Association, Dr Moodie frequently wore a full-length kaftan when representing police officers.

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