A HEARTLESS bigamist was hauled before magistrates in Rawtenstall and immediately jailed - but it was all in good fun as part of a court open day.

James Pollard had been dragged through the streets to the court house by a burly member of the local constabulary, protesting his innocence all the way.

In the public gallery were two wronged women, his long -suffering wife Joyce and the "new Mrs Pollard," to whom he was alleged to have declared his love - while helping himself to her cash.

Pollard had the misfortune to be brought from the cells before no-nonsense bench chairman Anne Cheetham who packed him off to prison for six months.

Mrs Cheetham, a real life JP, was heading a 1940s court room drama at Rossendale on Bank Holiday Monday.

Dressed to the nines in an authentic suit, hat and fox fur from the era, Mrs Cheetham was in her element dispensing old-fashioned justice to Pollard at Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Bench of Magistrates Court Open Day.

The wartime court proceedings, a genuine case but with the names and locations changed, was one of two hearings played out to visitors who packed the public gallery and included Judge Raymond Bennett, Honorary Recorder of Burnley.

The other was a fictional current-day theft from an employer case where magistrate Mary Thomas took the part of sobbing mum Karen Smith, who pinched £40 from her Bacup bosses while the firm's CCTV was out of action.

The court room dramas were highlights of the open day, which had a two-fold purpose - to show the public what goes on inside a court and to encourage anyone who may want to be a magistrate to come forward. Linda Thornber, chairman of the Burnley Pendle and Rossendale Bench, said the day was aimed at increasing public confidence, to show people what magistrates do and how they reach their decisions.

She added: "Everybody seems to have enjoyed it and found it very interesting."