‘I became Billy No-Mates’: a disabled magistrate in an inaccessible court

A magistrate for nearly 30 years, David Rose describes the feeling of exclusion after not being able to enter certain legal buildings

• Most magistrates courts in England and Wales have accessibility failings

David Rose, chair of the Magistrates with Disabilities Network, has been a magistrate for 29 years. He wears a prosthetic leg to court.

I’m an above-knee amputee, I suffered a severe trauma limb loss in 1979 when I was 23 years of age. I have a lot of experience of being excluded from numerous courtrooms due to wholly inadequate access.