COURTROOM BRIEF

It's sad Brigg courthouse and magistrates no longer operate on Wednesdays and Fridays, dishing out 'summary justice' to people from the town and surrounding villages. Some years ago the Brigg facility, like the one at Barton, was merged into the Scunthorpe court, with some of our JPs moving there. This amalgamation was said to be more efficient (meaning it would save money!). Fortunately, the Brigg court building, dating from mid-Victorian times, now houses records staff and is kept in a good state of repair. So we haven't lost it.
Prior to 1978, when the new Brigg police station in Barnard Avenue was built, the Boys In Blue also occupied this building in Wrawby Road, the court part being on the right of picture.
Covering Brigg court cases was part of the duties of reporters on the old Lincolnshire Times weekly paper, and we did not have to walk far down Wrawby Street to do so. Sometimes on your way in you could exchange an 'hello' with people you knew, or went to school with, who were waiting their turn to appear before the magistrates. Or about to give evidence.
Before the current bureaucracy that is the Crown Prosecution Service came into being, Brigg police handled the minor criminal cases coming up before the local bench.
Helpfully, Brigg police provided local newspapers with a neatly typed 'court sheet' - a few days in advance - which listed the names of those due to appear, plus the charges faced and the Act of Parliament they were alleged to have contravened (eg Theft Act, Offences Against the Person Act). The dates these came onto the statute book were also added (eg Justices of the Peace Act 1361, under which people could be bound over to keep the peace in the sum of £50, or perhaps more).
The cases coming before the Brigg bench back then were many and varied, including minor assaults, vandalism, petty theft, poaching, motoring offences, failure to have a valid TV licence, and mistreatment of animals.
Farmers in dispute over drainage also appeared from time to time, and the court met once a year (the Brewster Sessions) to review licensed premises and hear a report on how things were operating in the area from the local police chief.
There were also one-offs, such as the Brigg shopkeeper who refused to provide information for the Census, believing it was an invasion of his civil liberties.
The court was overseen by vastly experienced clerk Alan Booth, while Rose Parker was the usher who brought witnesses in from the waiting room to give their evidence. For years she could be seen driving round Brigg in a little Mini.
Magistrates included Lord Yarborough (not the current one), S D Wicks, Lt Col Nelthorpe (whose family had probably been on the bench for decades if not centuries), Brian Taylor, Mrs Barr, Mrs Foxton and Mrs Atkin.
The latter once presided over a case alleging mistreatment of a cat (it would have been about 25 years ago). It was 'a not-guilty plea' so we had to hear all the evidence and witnesses. It took a very, very long time and, unfortunately, was just a few days before Christmas when we would all rather have been somewhere else. In the end they found the case proved, and the story duly appeared on the front page under the heading 'Pet cat was famished'.
Lawyers who appeared in court back then included Michael Heath (now Judge Heath, sitting at Lincoln Crown Court), Steve Baggott, Michael Johnson, Michael Whiting, David Bains, Joe Ford and Roy Foreman. Many of them were Brigg-educated, or lived in the town. Steve's dad became a judge, while Roy's father, Ernie, was a police sergeant based in our town for many years.
Police prosecutions were usually carried out in person by Chief Insp Bill Horsfield, another Brigg resident and a very helpful and likeable man. Later, the police hirecarchy reorganised things and set up a department to carry out prosecutions in several local courts, which brought Sgt John Overton and Insp Dave Skipworth over to Brigg. They were also highly efficient and helpful to those on the press benches.
It remains a skilled job to accurately and fairly condense hours of evidence into a newspaper report, giving due balance to evidence from the defence and the prosecution. Fortunately, the Lincolnshire Times (especially in its broadsheet days) had acres of space to fill and few staff to do it, so we were not called upon to condense our reports as much as, say, the legendary Jack 'Scoop' Clark, of the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph.
We were general reporters who covered a wide range of topics (including sports and features); Jack specialised in crime and court reporting, and only visited Brigg for the biggest cases. Having covered the case he wanted on the list he would depart across the road to The Britannia or the Queen's Arms.