Criminal defence solicitors do not always have the easiest job but we are glad to hear that it can at least be sometimes entertaining, thanks to the colourful comments provided by our respected justices of the peace. Gems posted on the Criminal Law Solicitors Association Web site include comments from one sympathetic magistrate regarding a man arrested for gross indecency after being caught with another man in a public toilet. 'It is obvious the defendant has had a rough passage,' she said. A fellow JP was less lenient and warned others found guilty of a similar offence that they would be punished in a way that would make them 'feel it through their pockets'. Other members of the bench are reported to have endorsed TV licences with penalty points while one told a defendant: 'We accept that the police officers contradicted each other on all material parts of the evidence but they all said you did something wrong so we find you guilty anyway.' Still, the judges at least offered pearls of wisdom to some thieves and fraudsters; one member of the bench told a serial shoplifter who kept appearing before him: 'You really are a stupid boy - don't shoplift under cameras.'