YORK Crown Court has said farewell to a much loved judge who saw active service during the Second World War.

HHJ Gordon Atkinson has died after a short illness aged 97.

As well as his successful career in the law, he and his beloved wife Ishbel, fostered many children at their home just north of York.

Paying tribute to him at a special ceremony at York Crown Court in the presence of Judge Atkinson's family and friends, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, called him "one of the most loved characters of the North-Eastern Circuit".

Judge Atkinson left Stockton Grammar School in 1943, and his entry into the legal profession was delayed by his duties as a Royal Naval officer until 1951.

His interest in the sea continued and his many fishing and sailing visits to Holy Island, off the Northumberland coast, led to its inhabitants calling him affectionately, the "ancient mariner".

He ran a successful combined civil and criminal practice as a barrister on the North-Eastern legal circuit until he became a judge.

Judge Morris paid tribute to his "impish humour" and said: "We were lucky to know this good, gentle man and we will all cherish our memories of him."