Eulogy held for 'longest serving court watcher'published at 17:31 Greenwich Mean Time 18 November 2020
More than 150 judges, barristers, solicitors and court staff have paid tribute to a man described as the UK's "longest serving court watcher".
Andrew Mollison, who has died aged 74, spent 42 years observing proceedings at Sheffield Crown Court.
During a eulogy at the court, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, described him as an "institution" who will be sadly missed.
Mr Mollison, from Parson Cross, Sheffield, died on 10 November.
Judge Richardson said he had been inundated with messages of condolence from across the country since his death, including letters from "Lord Justices, judges of all ranks and many others".
He said: "They have written to me almost as if Andrew was a member of their family and, in a way, he was.
"The role he fulfilled was very important, it is so very easy to forget in the current circumstances that our courts are open to the public, after all it's the public we serve.
"As juries represent the wider public in terms of judgement it was Andrew, and others like him, who represented the public as observers of the administration of justice."