AAL Bizarre: Judge halts trial to gain a new ‘Direction’

A judge this month paused a court case in order to determine who One Direction, the world’s biggest boy band, were.

Ian Lawrie QC, who was passing sentence at Plymouth Crown Court, was presiding over a trial of three defendants accused of selling more than 1,000 counterfeit tops which had images of the four piece on them, on eBay.

Bringing proceedings to an early halt, the judge told the barrister for the defence: “Don’t be surprised that I have not heard of them,” before going on to add that he was “more of a Bach man myself.”

Upon being informed that the 1D boys’ net worth is over £70 million, and that they’ve consistenly topped charts around the world for the past few years, the judge seemed to accept their relative importance, although the defence lawyer did add that “If you have not heard any of their music, then your honour is definitely blessed.”

(Here at AAL, we think that’s slightly harsh, and would like to put it on record that we think that “Steal My Girl” is a bona fide tune.)

However, the three defendants admitted to the offense of selling goods with false trademarks between 2009 and 2012, and were sentenced by Lawrie that afternoon. Turns out that History can just be the One Thing that gets you sent down. (Sorry.)

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