Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2014 | Page 18

he did not achieve anything in his life, but the world would be
wrong; you are here, and you wouldn’t be here unless you loved
him.
“A person who creates love and affection in other people has not
lived in vain. That was something positive for them to go away
with, and if that did happen I felt I had done something for them.
I am a devout Christian, and I felt it was a Ministry, albeit a strange
one. I was trying to minister people in deep need, at their worst,
because death hits us hard.
“I liked to put a human face on it, so I made my court as
domestic as possible. I often asked if I could refer to the deceased
by their first name, and parents liked that because often you were
talking about their son or daughter. I tried to act like an ordinary
person.
“Being on the Island it was no good putting on airs and graces
in court, and for someone to say later ‘I knew what you were like
at school.’ I don’t think I have changed since I was a child – I like
fun and don’t take life too seriously, that is why I am not a typical
coroner or judge. To work on the Island, you don’t just have to be
in the community, but accepted by it, otherwise Islanders will take

“I liked to put a human
face on it, so I made
my court as domestic
as possible. I tried to
act like an ordinary
person."

John in 1949 aged 6

no notice of you.”
John was educated at Ryde C of E Primary School and Sandown
Grammar School. He once worked in an ice cream factory, but
later studied law at Southampton University; once wanted to be a
Town Clerk, but became a solicitor at the age of 24. He was thrown
in at the deep end, defending prisoners, and had one or two close
encounters. He smiled: “Once I was accidentally locked in a cell
with a dangerous thug I was to represent for 20 minutes before
being let out by a police officer, who forgot I was in there.
“I was put on the spot once when a prisoner I was defending
t old me he was guilty but wanted me to continue with the case. I
told him to plead guilty or get another solicitor, and he pleaded
guilty. It was not my job to judge a defendant, but put over his
case as well as possible. As long as I actually knew for sure that the
defendant was talking rubbish, because he had told me, I carried
on as best I could. If he is acquitted that was because the court
decided, not because of what I did.”
He continued: “I even did a Punch and Judy Show for some
kids after the Punch and Judy man couldn’t make it. I think my
maddest day was when I defended burglars in the magistrates’
court; played the organ for a funeral at St John’s Church, Newport;
was the Punch and Judy Man at Newport Carnival, and in the
evening went back to the police cells to talk to the burglars.”