A barrister who has often sat as a judge at York Crown Court has retired from the Bench for the second time.

Recorder David Bradshaw promised that this time there would be no comeback.

He was speaking at the start of his last day giving judgement to more than 20 barristers assembled with court staff and other well-wishers in Courtroom Two to pay tribute to his nearly 20 years as a part-time judge.

"I am absolutely staggered by the number of people in court today," he said. "It has been an honour and a privilege to sit as a recorder. I don't want to retire but I suppose you have to draw the line somewhere."

Five years ago, when he reached the then customary age for judges to retire, he received a letter from the Ministry of Justice saying he was no longer needed on the Bench.

But then another judge in a similar situation won a ruling that the Ministry was committing age discrimination and both judges were allowed to continue.

Recorders are lawyers who are also part-time judges and Mr Bradshaw has appeared many times over many decades before other judges at York Crown Court for the prosecution or the defence.

Recorder Bradshaw paid tribute to the integrity of the Bar, whose members, like him, can represent defence one day, prosecution in a different case the next and sit in judgement on a third case the next day.

Giving the tribute speech on behalf of his fellow barristers, Edward Bindloss praised Recorder Bradshaw's "no nonsense and direct way" of dealing with cases.

Staff at York Crown Court gave Recorder Bradshaw a framed photograph of the day the Prince of Wales made a surprise visit to the court to see a building which had been in continual use as originally intended for more than 200 years.