Paul Cheston has left The London Evening Standard after 28 years at the title.

Courts Correspondent Paul Cheston is to leave his role, and the newspaper for which he has worked for the last 28 years.

Cheston began working at The Standard in 1988 as a general reporter.

He began his role as courts correspondent in 1993. At the point of his departure, he had been in the role for 23 years.

Cheston was given a valedictory ceremony at the Old Bailey, despite the practice normally being reserved for judges.

"This is an astonishing honour and a great privilege for a simple newspaperman. In fact it is probably my proudest achievement since I was 21 and passed the 100 words per minute shorthand exam - and I had to cheat to do that.

"I must confess to some trepidation today as the last time I stood before a judge in these courts was to be seriously dressed down by a judge who is now in high office in another part of the court system. He was very angry that the Evening Standard had broken some court order.

"In my defence I should say that it was a story that I had neither written nor knew anything about. Then I made the mistake of trying to tell him so. As the judicial storm crashed around my head, I did think: I don’t really deserve this." said Cheston, at his valedictory ceremony.