 Poole was a Crown Court Recorder from 1982 until 1995, when he was appointed as a High Court judge in the Queen's Bench Division and received the customary knighthood.He presided over several notorious trials, including that of the paedophile Sidney Cooke in 1999, and the murderer John Paul Allan in 2003.As a result of adverse press coverage, he halted the first trial of Leeds United players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate, and two friends, on 11 April 2001.