An alcoholic beggar with an irrational hatred of pinstripes…
An eccentric old lady who sits in her flat and enjoys pouring a kettle full of boiling hot water over passers by …
A man who attempts to board a locked train by clambering, briefcase, brolly, jacket and all, through a window he has managed to wrench open ….
A modern-day siren luring men to their fate by offering them sexual favours and then stealing their money …
Those are just a few of the eccentric criminals in John Dodd’s series of sketches recording the human dramas that pass through the doors of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Find out who fought the law ...and whether the law won.
London is home to a bizarre, eclectic mix of people, and nowhere is more true than in the courts.
In 'Capital Punishments' two very different worlds collide – the straight-laced legal system, and the vibrant, chaotic Cockney thieves, con men and tarts who appear in the dock.
Hordes of petty rogues and vagabonds, helpless incompetents, bedraggled prostitutes and art-less dodgers drift through the courtroom, as spectators and lawyers look on bemused.
'Capital Punishment's is an uproarious look at the inner workings of the court system, based on a long-running column John Dodd wrote for the Evening Standard and The Observer.
It is a must-read for lawyers, students...and victims of the law.
John Dodd is a journalist and writer.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.