Judge Peter fox talks to Neil Hunter about a court martial which inspired him to becomer a 'silk'

IT was 1967 in Singapore and a twist of fate was to forever change the life of a young naval officer with hopes of rising through the ranks. Peter Fox had planned a career on the ocean wave, but what he describes as “a piece of happenstance” was to alter the course he had set.

He would ultimately ascend to a high-ranking role – but as one of the region’s most senior judges rather than in a top Royal Navy post.

The fresh-faced seaman went on to study law in his spare time, got called to the Bar, left the forces and moved from Kent to the North-East.

Now, after a legal career spanning six decades, Judge Peter Fox, QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, has retired, and looks back on his life.

He recalls that day in Singapore when he was asked to defend a sailor from HMS Ark Royal, accused of a sex offence, at a court martial.

Any officer could have been chosen to be the “prisoner’s friend”, but the job was given to Peter Fox – and he discovered he had a talent when it came to the law.

Peter remembers: “There was no system. I found myself detailed off to represent this sailor. I was just told to go and do it, so I did. I found I could do it. I enjoyed it, and did it reasonably well, and had the encouragement.

The case was thrown out of court.

“I was later congratulated by the Judge Advocate of the Fleet, and that encouraged me to read for the Bar, and that started it all. It’s completely strange. It was a pure coincidence and a piece of happenstance.

As it turned out, it worked out really very well. That was my first legal foray, and after the success, while I defended a few more courts martial, I read for the Bar.

“I sat all my exams in Singapore – apart from the Bar finals which were in London – doing it in my spare time while either ashore or aboard.”

In the midst of major government cuts to the armed services, he left the Navy in 1970 to become a barrister, and became a “silk” in 1985.

DECADES later, as a QC and Teesside ’s resident judge, he saw the former naval patrolman who acted as his first client’s custodian in the Far East.

“He was working in the courts’ post room and said ‘you won’t remember me, but I remember you defending that sailor from HMS Ark Royal’.

“It was quite extraordinary… you could have knocked me over with a feather, but life’s full of these funny little coincidences.

“When I became a barrister and moved to the North-East, that was another pure chance. I joined chambers in London, and my pupil master was Angus Stroyan. It’s an amazing coincidence that he was my predecessor here.

“I didn’t have the foggiest idea that he and those chambers had a connection to the North-East.

“My wife and I lived in Kent, and I was soon catching the 4.20am train from Sittingbourne to Sheffield, Leeds, York, Durham and Newcastle, getting back at midnight in the days before mobile phones only to be told I need to get on the 20 past four train again in the morning to get back to the North-East. Reasonably shortly after that, I moved here.”

Peter went on to work in numerous courts including the Court of Appeal, House of Lords and European Court of Justice, and was invited to become a judge in 1988.

“I was pleased to accept the appointment and Teesside has been my base ever since,” he says proudly. “I’d say it is the best court in the country.

“My next birthday is my 72nd and that’s the retirement age for judges of my rank, the senior circuit bench.

“I’ve been in the legal profession practising law for 45 years now. I think 45 years is long enough to do any job. I’ve really done everything I possibly could imagine doing, and a lot that I could never have imagined doing.

PETER feels that retirement will be an enormous change for him.

“I’m changing from trying the most serious cases in a large conurbation like this as well as the administration of a large court centre.

But I have one or two ideas, and look forward not only to seeing more of family and friends, but possibly learning about bee-keeping.

“I’ve got a little bit of land I’d like to look after a bit better than I have in the past, and a large garden that has been missing me. I’d like to spend time fly-fishing for trout during the season.”