OKEHAMPTON Magistrates' Court said goodbye to David Brough last week who has retired after 30 years on the bench.

Mr Brough from Iddesleigh has seen many re-organisations within the court structure — he started off on the Okehampton bench but after many renamings it is now the Exeter and Central Devon bench.

Magistrates from Okehampton are now called to sit at a variety of different courts within the bench locality.

A former agricultural researcher, Mr Brough said he had been involved in many sittings in Exeter and he did not enjoy being stuck in the rush-hour traffic.

This was one of the reasons why he had stepped down although the main one was because he had reached retirement age.

He said the work had been traumatic at times but very interesting and it was a continual learning process.

'The laws are always changing and as a result magistrates are always training,' he said. 'Having said that the last 15 years have seen more changes than ever before.'

There was a lot of criticism when several court houses in Devon and Cornwall closed last year including Tavistock, in a restructuring process and Mr Brough said it was very important that Okehampton did not go the same way.

'I hope Okehampton stays open for the sake of people attending the courts who will have a long way to travel to the nearest courthouse now others have closed,' he said.

The retiring magistrate was presented with a engraved decanter by his colleagues.