MAGISTRATE Charles Fuller from Corsham will be retiring from the bench this week after serving the county for more than 30 years.

Mr Fuller, 70, of Jaggards Lane, Neston, first became a magistrate in 1983 and has served the criminal justice system for nearly 33 years.

He has also represented the Neston ward on Corsham town council for over 40 years – a role he will also be retiring from in the near future.

“Over the years I had the time to sit in the day and with the council work properly in the evening,” Coun Fuller added.

“Back in those days you were a magistrate in a large organisation with 17 courts in Wiltshire alone and we were all local in our own benches. There were around 330 magistrates and now there are only 170 sitting in three courts.

“I have always been allied to Chippenham and I chaired the last sitting of the old court house. I then chaired the first case in the new court house.”

Mr Fuller served as a magistrate in the youth and family court for 28 years as well as a county secretary of Wiltshire Magistrates Association for nine years. He said that these experiences have provided him with many lifelong memories.

“Sitting on the bench is what made the time exciting. There have been lots of highlights. A favourite story was when we had somebody who had been arrested and brought to court from Bristol Airport.

“We had just decided what to do with him when, to my amazement, he jumped out the first floor window, damaging the frame which is still in the old court house. He was eventually brought back to us soaking wet from swimming in the River Avon.”

Mr Fuller is a fifth-generation member of the Fuller family, who own the Neston Park Estate, and believes his work for the council is a way to say thank you to Corsham.

“Being a councillor is a way of helping pay back the local community. As a town council, we organise a range of events, the sort of things that look after Corsham and make it a good place.

By law, a magistrate is forced to retire at 70 and Mr Fuller is now looking forward to his time off.

“Now I will carry on with my own little things like flying my aeroplane over the countryside. Plus my dog is due to have puppies in August and I am also due to be a grandfather in December,” he added. “I have got plenty of things to keep myself busy and I am happy that I have served my time.”