Former Bristol Live reporter’s memoir charts 20 years in the courts
Former Bristol Live court reporter Geoff Bennett
The journalist who spent 20 years reporting some of the Bristol’s most significant criminal cases for the Bristol Post and Bristol Live has published his debut memoir.
It charts a career that covers Geoff Bennett’s own father predicted would never happen.
The Wolf of Small Street – so called because Bristol Crown Court is in Small Street – is part coming-of-age story, part front-row account of British journalism through one of its most turbulent periods of change.
Geoff spent the last 20 years of his career as dedicated Crown Court Reporter for the Bristol Evening Post, a specialist role he joined in 2003 and held until taking voluntary redundancy in September 2023.
Before that, he worked as sports editor and general reporter for the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald and the Swindon Evening Advertiser.
Former Bristol Live court reporter Geoff Bennett’s memoir
The book’s title reflects the 63-year-old’s dual life – living in Swindon while working the courts of Bristol – and covers everything from his Wiltshire childhood and a decade of drifting before journalism finally claimed him, to the landmark trials that made national headlines.
Geoff left his role with Bristol Live in late 2023 and went off travelling.
He said: “We spent the first couple of years in South East Asia – Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia but then I developed a medical issue that left me incapacited.
“I decided to fulfil what had been a pipe dream and put together my autobiography. I knew it was of interest to people because whenever I had told people what I did people said ‘that must be an interesting job’. I thought I had an interesting thing to write, not just about my early life but journalism too.”
Geoff had archived everything he had had published over the years so had a plenfiful supply of source material.
“I covered a lot of cases and always tried to cover the big ones. John Hogan on holiday with his family in Crete. He jumped of a hotel balcony with his children and ended up killing his son.
“I was dispatched to Greece with a Greek-speaking photographer and covered that breaking story. There was no court action but we joined the national press pack in following the latest.
“I remember being in a hot car park, we all put down our big cameras and went up try and get past armed guards to get a picture.”
Geoff recalled how good contacts was a big part of getting the best our of covering the courts.
“I was lucky enough to have a specialist court reporter role when it’s hard to deploy someone like that but I thought it was a sensible thing. It’s such a great place for stories – you get to know the court clerks and barristers, even judges – and they will tip you the wink for good stories,” he said.
Asked about some of the other major cases he covered, Geoff recalled the Colston 4 trial, who he thought intitially felt would be found guilty.
“I thought they were a lovely genuine lot and they brought forward such stong arguments about why the statue was so offensive. They won me over – and the jury – over, so I changed my view and I was glad of the result.”
Asked about what it was like listening to what is often difficult evidence, Geoff said he managed to keep the details of the cases seperate from his role.
He said: “People said I must get upset at what I heard but the truth is I was more concerned about hitting deadlines – getting it right and getting it out there – that made me anxious, rather than what I was listening too.”
Geoff was keen to point out it’s not a grim memoir: “It’s light and funny in the first half, it’s only the second part where it gets more serious.”
His coverage of the Joanna Yeates murder trial in 2011 is among the most vivid passages in the book.
Geoff was one of a handful of reporters present when the jury visited Yeates’ Clifton flat – a home, he writes, that was ‘trapped in time… cold rooms smeared with grey fingerprint powder’ still prepared for a Christmas that never came.
The memoir charts the seismic changes Geoff witnessed across his career – from broadsheet print journalism to online publishing, video, live-blogging and social media.
The book is also, frequently, very funny – from a chaotic Swindon childhood to the characters encountered across four decades in regional newsrooms.
Geoff lives in Swindon with his wife Jeni of 26 years. Both are now retired and travel extensively, documenting their adventures at jenandbenareoffagain.com.