A crown court has unveiled a unique memorial to a journalist who reported from there for the best part of four decades.

Freelance Richard Harrison, who died earlier this year aged 63, became ‘part of the furniture’ at Exeter Crown Court.

Now the press room at the court – used by reporters as a quiet, private place to type up stories and read notes – has officially been renamed the ‘Richard Harrison Room’.

Judge Graham Cottle, the Recorder of Exeter, unveiled a brass memorial plaque as he officially opened the room last week.

Until his death in April, Richard had filed stories from the court for newspapers across the South West since the early 1970s.

Judge Cottle said: “It was a very sad day this year when Richard Harrison died.

“H’’d been really part of the furniture of Exeter Crown Court for many years, so today we are having a short ceremony to mark, in what I believe to be a completely appropriate way, the contribution he made to the life of Exeter Crown Court.

“We have a member of the local chambers to thank for this splendid idea to mark Richard Harrison’s contribution and the Western Circuit to thank for the funds to acquire this engraved plaque.”

Barrister Gavin Collett collected donations from colleagues on the Western Circuit to pay for the memorial plaque on the press room door.

Mr Collett told the Echo: “Richard was a great character and is sorely missed. We all remember his stories.”

The plaque, installed by court maintenance worker Jason Richards, reads: “The Richard Harrison Room, in memoriam Richard Harrison, journalist 1947 to 2010, From the Western Circuit.”

A photographer from the Express and Echo was given a rare opportunity to take pictures of the unveiling inside the court building, as cameras are usually forbidden.

Judge Cottle added: “Whenever this court was sitting, Richard was a constant presence and even when he was completely struggling through illness he still somehow summoned up the strength to take his place on the press bench.

“The legacy he leaves is the memory of someone who faithfully and accurately reported the business of this court and deserved the total respect of all the justices who sat here over the years.”

Comments

Subbed Out (25/06/2010 10:19:42)
Nice idea. I can think of several other hard-working, dedicated journalists who deserved similar tributes but nothing was forthcoming before their untimely deaths.

Anonymous (25/06/2010 11:35:10)
Surely it’d need to be after their untimely death, rather than before?

Snipa (28/06/2010 11:17:16)
Amazing they even have a press room. So many courts have scrapped them to save space.