Derek Wheatley QC

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 barrister and legal advisor. He is now a novelist.

Wheatley was educated at University College, Oxford

University College, Oxford

.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...

, going up to Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 in 1944. He became a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

 and was involved with the case of Isabel Earl, who was tried at the Old Bailey

Old Bailey

The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...

 for murder. As a barrister, he handled both criminal and commercial cases. Subsequently he was a Recorder (judge)

Recorder (judge)

A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...

 of the Crown Court

Crown Court

The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...

 and a Deputy Coroner of the Queen's Household (1959–64).

Later, he joined Lloyds Bank

Lloyds Bank

Lloyds Bank Plc was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1765 until its merger into Lloyds TSB in 1995; it remains a registered company but is currently dormant. It expanded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies...

 as its Chief Legal Advisor

Chief Legal Officer

A chief legal officer is the highest-ranking corporate officer concerning legal affairs of a corporation or agency. Chief legal officers typically hold the title of general counsel.- Skill requirements :...

.
Wheatley has written many articles for newspapers and legal journals.
He has also written a novel, The Silent Lady (Mona Lisa), based on his experiences as a barrister, especially the Isabel Earl case.