From the cases of Michael Fagan and other Buckingham Palace intruders to those of West End pickpockets, ‘saucy’ prostitutes and cockroaches in the kitchens of one of London’s most prestigious clubs, Bow Street Beak is a roller-coaster ride through the life and career of stipendiary magistrate Ronald Bartle at the iconic Bow Street Magistrates’ Court. It takes a candid look at the often tragic world of the criminal offender but with the kind of humour that stems from pricking the skin of normally rigid, formal and sometimes daunting institutions. From the eccentric behaviour of court ‘regulars’ to the ordeal of the cell door for someone whose career is at an end from a momentary lapse, and other sentencing dilemmas, this book is an acutely observed social record of legal, criminal and everyday London life.