A judge has failed to make a stoned teenager his personal court sketch artist.

The boy, 16, appeared before District Judge Barney McElholm at Londonderry Magistrates Court. He had been bailed on public order charges, but was re-arrested when police suspected him of being under the influence of cannabis. On his arrest he admitted being high.

At the teenage's application for bail, his solicitor told Judge McElholm that his client suffered from boredom, but that he also had an interest in art. Belfast media reported that Judge McElholm granted bail on the condition that the teenager attend his court for two hours the following Friday and Monday to be his sketch artist.

McElholm told the boy, "You must bring with you a sketch pad and a pencil and you can draw me and the solicitors for two hours each day - only me and the solicitors - and I will review the matter on Wednesday of next week”. He added, “If you look stoned, you will be arrested and remanded in immediate custody”.

"I'm very fond of it. The boy tells me it's Doobist"

However when RollOnFriday asked the Northern Irish Court Service for copies of the illicit portraits, a spokeswoman said, "On reflection the judge decided that the defendant was not required to attend court and so sketches were not completed." She added, "Sketching was not part of the bail conditions but was a suggestion made by the judge".

He may have changed his mind after realising he was suggesting something illegal. As RollOnFriday's guest court sketch artist Isobel Williams pointed out, it is forbidden to draw in UK courts, with artists required to sketch from memory. And they definitely can't take in bladed articles like pencil sharpeners, so even with a special dispensation the baked Bacon would "need a LOT of pencils if he’s going to keep up a good pace".