Judge Gordon Lerve revealed his appointment on Monday shortly after coming on to the bench on the first day of the July-August sittings of Wagga District Court, which is generally served by circuit court judges.

“For those of you who don’t know already, from the middle of next year I will be the District Court judge in Wagga on a permanent basis,” Judge Lerve said.

Judge Lerve, who worked in Wagga between 1991 and 2003 as a Crown prosecutor, has strong links with the Riverina and does not hide his affection for the region.

Discussing a different matter before calling through the criminal list on Monday, Judge Lerve said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be in Wagga”.

The Attorney-General, Gabrielle Upton, announced in the state budget last month Wagga would have a permanent judge.

The announcement came weeks after the opening of a new trial courtroom in the $19.5 million courthouse redevelopment and 13 months after The Daily Advertiser published Judge Jennifer English’s plea for a full-time judge for Wagga.

Working in Wagga in May last year, Judge English said the current workload was too much for visiting circuit court judges.

Judge Lerve, whose legal career spans more than 34 years, will move to Wagga from Dubbo where has been been Dubbo’s full-time judge in recent years.

Judge Lerve was sworn in as a judge on May 31, 2012, after working as an acting judge for eight months.

Before then he served on the bench as a magistrate for six years, mainly in rural and regional areas, including Moree and Albury.

He was at Albury between 2008 and 2012.

Judge Lerve was born at Urana and grew up in Cootamundra.

He studied for a Bachelor of Legal Studies at Macquarie University after starting work in the Court of Petty Sessions in 1975.

His legal experience also includes working as a barrister in private practice for four years and being a senior legal officer at the National Crime Authority for a year.

The president of the South West Slopes Law Society, Maggie Orman, said she was delighted an appointment had been made.

“It will be of such benefit to the community to have a full-time judge sitting here,” Ms Orman said.