Court room chuckles

ONE thing that often amazes me about court reporting is the amount of humour on show. OK, I know Britain is a witty place to live in where banter and jokes play a key part in daily life…but surely court would be exempt from such niceties. The first time I noticed such joviality was this summer when I covered the Gary Hardy drugs trial. Throughout the case members of the jury, the lawyers, the judge and even various defendants including Gary Hardy himself would break out in chuckles. On one memorable occasion the whole court roared in laughter as a witness with a good sense of humour moved away from giving evidence into a near comedy routine, until he was halted in his tracks by the smirking judge who realised the seriousness of the court setting. On a daily basis I was always left suprised at the happy nature of Gary Hardy, who regularly laughed and joked with security staff guarding him in the dock, despite the seriousness of the charges he faced. Well I know if that had been me I’d have gone into a shell of self-pity and refused to talk to anyone. And yet again the presence of court humour became apparent during the closing stages of the Peter Smith murder trial this week. Whilst in full swing of summing up the evidence, Judge His Honour Stephen Kramer QC momentarily lost his trail of thought and also his notes much to the amusement of the jury and lawyers. Earlier the judge and prosecutor Peter Joyce QC were both struck down by prolonged coughing fits to the general titters of all in the court room. It doesn’t take much to make us laugh. Yes, Britain really is a funny old place to live in.

A long long day

WHEN I came into journalism I knew it wouldn’t be a straight forward 9am to 5pm job….but I must admit I never expected a day like I had yesterday.

 

I arose from my slumbers to set off for work at 7am with the not too pleasant thought in the back of my head that I would not be returning home until midnight. Yes, that’s right! midnight.

 

The day promised to be a busy action-packed day, taking in a murder trial at Nottingham Crown Court, before being rounded off with reporting on the delights of Mansfield Town’s latest attempts to claim three points.

 

And that is of course not forgetting all the rest of my daily workload.

 

The day began ominously after it took me the best part of three hours to get to Nottingham Crown Court from my West Yorkshire home thanks to the delights of the snow, slush and the driver who interestingly decided to crash his car into a lamppost. (Well done Mr Driver)

 

But despite the long, tiring hours I have to admit the day gave me a real buzz and a sense of achievement.

 

It felt like being at the real cutting edge of news, whizzing around the Mansfield and Ashfield area collecting the important news and talking to the people that set the agenda.

 

Crown court reporting is fast-paced and above all else it is exciting. Everyone wants to read about a murder. It is dramatic, tense and thrilling….and reporting on cases such as this is just the same.

 

And let us face it, reporting on football….well that’s not work now is it. I love my football, in fact I actually came into the industry because of my love of sport and desire to be a football writer. So being at the game last night was actually a pleasure and a lot of fun.

 

OK so I’m not saying I want to have a 17 hour working day all the time, but it’s definitely not as bad as it sounds.