 He served as Treasurer at Middle Temple in 1981.One of his last trials was leading for the prosecution when Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen were convicted for the murder of John Alan West in 1964, which led to the last two judicial executions in Britain before the abolition of the death penalty in 1965.Cantley became Judge of the Court of Record in the Hundred of Salford in Lancashire in 1960, and was Judge of Appeal in the Isle of Man High Court from 1962 to 1965.