A two-punch combination came to the help of solicitor David Leach when he tried to calm a violent confrontation outside Burnley Magistrates’ Court. Leach, of the criminal department at the Burnley office of Donald Race & Newton, was attacked by a former local councillor who had been ticked off for using his mobile phone inside the court.

The troublemaker picked the wrong man: former welterweight Leach reacted with pugilistic despatch and landed Noel O’Brien on his backside on the courthouse steps, a court heard last week.

O’Brien, 57, was convicted of assault, jailed for 25 days and ordered to pay £50 in compensation, which Leach tells us he’ll donate to the Pendle Hospice and a local amateur football team.