Friends and colleagues have paid tribute to retired Oxford circuit judge Paul Clark, right, who died last week, aged 68.

Judge Clark first came to Oxford as a student, studying at New College in the 1960s, before becoming a cicuit judge in Oxford from 1985 to 2003.

He was also a trustee of the city's Ashmoleum Museum and chairman of the university's disciplinary court.

In 1998, he was in the national news after receiving a death threat from a man whose custody hearing he presided over.

Judge Clark's career was jeopardised in December 1999, when he was badly injured after being involved in a collision with a car while cycling near his home in North Oxford.

Following the accident his wife, Judge Jacqueline Davies, moved to the Oxford circuit, so she could be near her husband.

Judge Patrick Eccles told a special gathering at Oxford Crown Court: "Paul was a man with a great variety of gifts beyond as well as within the law.

"His greatest gift was his helpfulness to young and old alike. He knew everyone from the magistracy to the House of Lords.

"If you were not ambitious he would be ambitious for you. He helped my first faltering footsteps along the path of advocacy.

"He positively nagged me to apply to become a judge. I am personally very grateful for having known Paul Clark. I knew and valued him as a friend."

Judge Clark died on Tuesday, October 7. He is survived by his widow.