Magistrates‘ Court

Published: 2009-11-05

Various artists - 22 Great Marlborough Street

Marylebone Road Magistrates' Court is one of the three Magistrates' Courts of the central region of Greater London, along with City of Westminster Magistrates' Court and City of London Magistrates' Court. The court has seen a host of different music celebrities pass through it over the years. In the present day the court has been transformed into a five star hotel run by the Hilton chain.

On the 18th and 19th of October 1968 John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in front of the court, this was the aftermath of the raid on 34 Montagu square and the charges of cannabis possession.

On the 28th of November John pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis resin and received a fine of £150, he has later stated he did this to protect Yoko who's visa would be in peril if she was found to be involved with drugs. In 1974 the conviction would be used by the US immigration authorities to refuse Lennon a visa to stay in the US. The real reason denying Lennon a visa was political, Lennon was an influential antiwar activist which the US authorities did not want in the country. In the 2006 film 'The US vs John Lennon' Yoko Ono says they at one point even feared for Johns life because of the pressure they felt from the US authorities.

In 1969 on the 23rd of May Mick Jagger and his girlfriend Marianne Faithful (charged as Marianne Evelyn Dunbar) appeared at Marlborough Street Magistrates Court charged with possessing cannabis, they were released on £50 bail each. The court appearance was a result of a drugs raid carried out by half a dozen police officers led by Detective Sereant Robin Constable at Jagger 's flat in Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. As the case came to court on 19 December 1968 Mick was fined £200 with £52 costs, Marianne Faithful was acquitted.

In 2005 the National Archive released the file on the case which shows that Mick Jagger claimed the drugs to have been planted in his home by Detective Sergeant Robin Constable who then tried to solicit a bribe from Jagger in exchange for letting him escape a conviction.

The Scotland Yard's investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector William Wilson, said that the claims came down to Sir Mick's word against Mr Constable's. When the investigation was passed to the director of public prosecutions, he decided not to charge the officer, Detective Sergeant Robin Constable.

In 1970 a case was brought against John Lennon for exhibiting pictures which were too sexually explicit in the London Art Gallery, the case was dismissed.

In 1973 Keith Richards was fined £205 for possession of marijuana, heroin, mandrax, a revolver and an antique shotgun.

In 1977 Johnny Rotten and was also fined £40 for possession of amphetamine sulphate. In the same year on the 6th of April reggae icon Bob Marley was charged at Marylebone Magistrates's court for possessing cannabis.