Legal Career
Pickles practised as a barrister at Bradford, Yorkshire from 1949 to 1976, serving as a Recorder of the Crown Court from 1972 to 1976. He was then appointed Circuit Judge on the North Eastern circuit. His career as a judge was controversial, and some of his judgments made headline news, resulting in calls for judges to be held more accountable. These included the jailing of a woman for seven days for contempt when she refused to give evidence against her ex-boyfriend, who had assaulted her, and the imprisonment of a single mother for six months on a charge of theft.
He was a vocal proponent of the legalisation of cannabis. In 1958 he was the Labour candidate for the parliamentary constituency of Barkston Ash, and at the 1966 general election he contested Brighouse and Spenborough as a Liberal.
Read more about this topic: James Pickles
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