Michael Cook shares some after dinner tales
My early legal life in Leeds was full of characters. There was the chairman of the West Riding bench who, after they had found a man guilty of a weights and measures offence, was told that the prosecution was seeking costs of over £1,000. With fine Yorkshire commonsense he responded: “Nay lad, we don’t find him that guilty.”
And then the old clerk to the Bradford magistrates who tried to persuade a man in the dock on a serious charge to accept free legal representation. When the accused declined the offer, the clerk reminded him it was a serious charge for which he could be sent to prison if convicted. The man again refused, saying, “I put my faith and trust in God”. After a pause the clerk responded: “Don’t you think you’d do better with someone a little more local?”
The clerk was the epitome of courtesy and at the end of every hearing would say to the defendant: “Thank you for coming.” The chairman would announce: “We have no alternative to sentencing you to six months
