Barrister intervenes in court room brawl

A battling barrister intervened in a courtroom brawl after two burglars came to blows in the dock. Bongeka Simela and Samuel Olubode 19, landed punches on each other and hit a security officer who tried to stop them.

The fight looked to be getting out of hand until prosecutor Piers Wauchope leapt into the fray to help separate the two men. Three more security officers then managed to restrain the burglars and lead them into the cells.



Mr Wauchope's glasses were knocked off in the fight but he dusted himself down and told grateful court staff: "Oh, it was nothing". Moments later he straightened his wig to continue prosecuting the case against the two men as if nothing had happened.

Judge Georges Khayat QC, sitting at Snaresbrook Crown Court, was angry at the incident. "I will not have anyone, I repeat anyone at all, fighting in my court," he told the court. Later a member of court staff praised Mr Wauchope's intervention. He said: "He was into that dock like lightening. He looked very tasty indeed."