HE has regularly perched behind the court bench, punishing masses of notorious criminals for unleashing their reign of terror across the county.

But after devoting the past three decades of his life to Oxfordshire's justice system, Judge Patrick Eccles QC is finally hanging up his wig and gown.

The grandfather-of-five has bid his final goodbye to Oxford Crown Court, leaving behind the wood-panelled rooms and winding corridors which have surrounded him for almost 20 years.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail after presiding over his final case, the judge said: "I have very fond memories of sitting here as a judge, it's always what I wanted to end up doing.

"The enjoyment of being a judge is feeling that you are doing your best to make some contribution to providing justice for your local community.

"If you have made a contribution like that then, of course, you feel very fulfilled and proud for having done that."

The Oxford University alumnus read law under the watchful eye of tutor Sir Richard Buxton – a former Court of Appeal judge – before settling in the city in 1984.

Despite confessing he did not work 'as hard as he should have' and spending a lot of time playing rugby as a student, the judge went on to open a branch of Harcourt Chambers in St Aldate's in the late 1980s.

Just metres away from the criminal court he would later take centre stage within, the 71-year-old became a QC in 1990 before being elected a Bencher eight years later.

But of the countless hearings reigned over since becoming a circuit judge in 2000, the murder case of teenager Jayden Parkinson will leave lasting memories with him.

Ben Blakeley was jailed for life in 2014, with a 20-year minimum term, for strangling the 17-year-old and burying her in his uncle's grave at Didcot's All Saints' Church.

Judge Eccles dubbed it his most memorable case, recalling how the 'harrowing' details of her murder, along with Blakeley's behaviour in court, will haunt him.

He added: "It was just very difficult, especially for the jury. Doing cases like that was not something I necessarily expected to do when I became a judge."

Judge Eccles said he also found it difficult 'knowing what was the right thing to do' when cases of death by dangerous driving fell before him, recollecting jailing St Edward's School student Gabriella Edmondson for 28 months in 2009.

Edmondson, who was 17 at the time, admitted killing her friend Grace Matilda Hadman when she crashed, drunk at the wheel, on the A34.

But he went on to say he was far from out of touch with the harsh realities of life for some, adding: "Judges get slightly irritated at being accused of living in ivory towers when each day we come to the back of the court, past the night shelter O'Hanlon House."

The judge, who is looking forward to studying new languages and spending more time in his garden, raised concerns over the battle convicts face in their hunt for accommodation after leaving jail.

The former prisoners run the risk of falling back into crime and leading chaotic lives once again, he said.

He also touched on violence within the city, adding: "The centre of Oxford can be a very intimidating place late at night for those who are not the young revellers.

"It's a continuing concern but it seems on the whole very well policed."

Judge Eccles, who was born in Warrington, Cheshire, was appointed a member of the county court rule committee in 1986, become a Recorder in 1987, and assistant parliamentary boundary commissioner in 1992.

He also served as a legal member of the mental health review tribunal in 1999, and was a deputy high court judge for the chancery and family division from 2002.