Story time

I've been at work experience this week with a judge. Of course court is terrifying to those who are there for a hearing but I absolutely love the atmosphere and protocols and tension surrounding a court room as an onlooker.

The judge I do work experience with is a fantastic story-teller and I thought I would repeat for you a few of his stories.

A defendant, claiming that his diary contained evidence of his alibi, when asked to produce it for the court presented a diary for the year completely blank apart from the day in question when he 'went shopping'. "It wasn't a very busy year for you was it?", queried the cross-examiner!

In another case, a diary used as evidence was a much more meticulously filled-in book which did seem to show that the defendant was not where the criminal in question was on the day in question. Later on in the case, as the judge absent-mindedly flicked through the diary his eyes came across the words 'Went to rob them today but had no luck. Will try again next week'! The defendant's pleas were quickly altered.

A recent case in another town involved a man who tried to deny murdering and burying his lover until the police found the spot where the body was buried saved, under favourites, in his Sat Nav!