JUDGES and former judges, barristers, solicitors and others in the Yorkshire legal community heard tributes to leading barrister Gilbert Gray QC at York Crown Court.

A crowded courtroom heard him described as a “renaissance” man whose humanity, humour and outstanding professional skills touched and enriched the lives of many both inside and outside the law.

Gilly, as he was known to everyone, died last Thursday after a short illness, aged 82. In his last years, he was Head of York Chambers and continued working right up to the end.

Jenni Bartram, the president of the Yorkshire Law Society, said: “There will never be another Gilly. He was someone who was a total original. With his going, some of the colour of the profession will vanish. He was very much a renaissance man. I do not think we will see his like again.”

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, paid tribute to the QC’s “natural flair of advocacy, his faultless courtroom skills.”

He described how Mr Gray always knew the right word or the right phrase and the right tone in which to deliver them, so that whenever he stood up in court or at a dinner or other event, his audience always knew they were in for a speech they would not forget.

He also had many interests outside the law, including his long support for the RNLI.

“It is, I suspect, quite impossible in the modern era for one man to pack so much into his life,” said the judge.

Peter Johnson, of York Chambers, said: “Self-effacing, modest, generous to a tee, that was Gilly.” He recalled how Mr Gray had once left a chambers meeting early so he could launch a lifeboat.

The courtroom also heard how Mr Gray once gave the sermon at York Minster for the annual legal service and never forgot his Yorkshire roots.