Peter Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth
Encyclopedia
Peter Murray Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth PC
(1 May 1930 - 28 April 1997) was the Lord Chief Justice of England
from 1992 until his premature retirement in 1996, due to poor health which led to his death the following year.
or Germany
(see List of British Jews); the original name of the family may have been Teiger or Teicher. His father Louis was born in Leeds
to where the family had emigrated, and became a doctor; his mother came from the rabbinical Palterovich family who had emigrated to Leeds in 1895 (Taylor was therefore a distant cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow
). Taylor had a brother, Arthur, and a sister, Dorothy. By the time of his birth, the family were living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Taylor passed the 11-plus and attended the Royal Grammar School
. During World War II
, Newcastle was subject to bombing raids and Taylor was evacuated to Penrith
where he lived in a house without either running water or mains electricity. He had 3 daughters Ruth, Deborah and Judith and one son Louis. If he were still alive he would have 12 grandchildren.
to study law. He was also a talented pianist, continuing to play for the whole of his life. He graduated in 1953 with an upper second class degree and then read for the Bar, being called
in 1954. He chose to practise on the north-eastern circuit around Newcastle and joined the chambers of Norman Harper. He conducted mainly criminal cases, often for the prosecution, and at a very early age 'took silk' to become a Queen's Counsel
in 1967; he occasionally appeared for the defence and on one such occasion, the reactionary judge Melford Stevenson
deemed him a threat to the administration of justice.
, including that of Poulson himself. Over the next three years, the prosecutions succeeded and many of those involved were jailed. In 1974, Taylor successfully prosecuted Judith Ward
who was convicted of a series of IRA bombings (many years later, the conviction was found to have been a miscarriage of justice, mostly through Ward's delusions of her own guilt). He also prosecuted Stefan Kiszko
in July 1976, in what would become one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British Law in the 20th Century. Taylor also took on John Ryman
, a fellow Barrister and Labour
Member of Parliament
for Blyth Valley who was found to have submitted fraudulent election expenses.
The most high profile trial in which Taylor appeared was that of former Liberal Party
leader Jeremy Thorpe
for conspiracy to murder in 1979. Although all involved were acquitted, most observers put this down to the summing-up of the trial judge and the malpractice of the prosecution witnesses; Taylor won praise for his handling of the case. His opening address is frequently quoted; Taylor's style of oratory was deliberately concise and straightforward but he had a talent for a punning literary allusion.
permission to challenge the Greater London Council
's "Fare's Fair" policy of lowering public transport fares. In 1983 Taylor held that a Pakistan
i man who had pronounced Talaq
and notified the authorities in Pakistan had not divorce
d his wife according to English law.
In 1984, Taylor largely sided with Mary Whitehouse
who brought a case against the Independent Broadcasting Authority
over the television film "Scum
"; he said the Director-General of the IBA had made "a grave error of judgment" in allowing the film to be shown. The next year, he held that Nottinghamshire police had acted negligently in firing CS gas
into a house knowing there would be a fire risk and not having fire engines on standby. In 1987 he stated that he did not accept that a Judge could not inquire further when a Minister raised a justification of 'national security' for their actions (the case concerned the telephone tapping
of Joan Ruddock
).
. There he became known to the public on 17 April 1989 when he was commissioned by the government to undertake an inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster
two days previously. He seemed an appropriate choice as he had been a lifelong supporter of Newcastle United F.C.
and had spent many Saturdays on the terraces during his youth. The Taylor Report
led to the introduction of all-seater stadiums at top English football clubs, and the removal of fences around fans sitting areas. Standing accommodation was seen as a risk due to the increased chances of a "crush", and the security fences which Taylor describes as treating spectators like "prisoners of war" were also a hazard in crushes as they claimed the lives of most of the 96 people who ultimately lost their lives at Hillsborough; 94 of them died on the day of the disaster, a 95th died several days later, and the final victim died in March 1993 having never regained consciousness.
Taylor's recommendations, published on 29 January 1990, stated that all First and Second Division (which became the Premier League and Division One in 1992) stadiums had to be all-seater by August 1994, and that the rest of the Football League should follow suit by August 1999. However, the Football Association later ruled that the smaller clubs could retain standing accommodation provided that their stadiums met safety requirements, while clubs promoted to the upper reaches of the league would be allowed standing accommodation at their stadiums for up to three years after promotion.
Taylor's popularity as a former Chairman of the Bar Council and as a fair judge who could plausibly claim to have been in touch with all aspects of British life led to his being considered the favourite to take over from Lord Lane
when Lane retired from the job of Lord Chief Justice
, a retirement which seemed all the more likely due to the criticism of Lane for his stance on a succession of miscarriages of justice. Taylor was duly appointed when Lane stepped down in 1992, receiving a life peerage as Baron Taylor of Gosforth, of Embleton in the County of Northumberland
at the same time.
television's Question Time and as a castaway on Desert Island Discs
. Within a few months of taking over he accepted an invitation to give the annual Dimbleby Lecture
on "The judiciary in the nineties" in which he cast himself as a reformer. He supported moves to stop Judges wearing wigs in court.
Unlike previous holders of the office, Taylor concentrated almost exclusively on appeals rather than acting as a trial judge. This was partly because a backlog had grown up but also because of the much increased concern over a series of cases going back many years which were being proved to be miscarriages of justice. Taylor differed from his immediate predecessor in considering this an immensely serious issue, and knew from his own experience of prosecuting Judith Ward and Stefan Kiszko
that many more cases could come to light. This led him to strong support of the full disclosure of prosecution evidence (he also supported moves towards disclosure of defence evidence).
Taylor was with the grain of public opinion in supporting stronger sentences on drunk drivers who killed, and he also extended the range of defences available to domestic violence
victims who fought back. He also extended the concept of murder to include the murder of unborn children in their mother's womb. Because of his unusual openness, his view was often heard on matters of political controversy: he could live with the change to allow juries to draw adverse inferences from defendant's silence when interviewed, but opposed moves restricting the right of an accused to elect trial by jury.
, which he turned down. He stepped down in 1996, although did not go quietly: in a series of speeches in the House of Lords
over the next year he strongly attacked proposals from the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard
, to introduce mandatory sentencing, which he said "must involve a denial of justice". He died in 1997.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(1 May 1930 - 28 April 1997) was the Lord Chief Justice of England
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
from 1992 until his premature retirement in 1996, due to poor health which led to his death the following year.
Family
Taylor came from a Jewish family who had their origins in LithuaniaLithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
or Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(see List of British Jews); the original name of the family may have been Teiger or Teicher. His father Louis was born in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
to where the family had emigrated, and became a doctor; his mother came from the rabbinical Palterovich family who had emigrated to Leeds in 1895 (Taylor was therefore a distant cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
). Taylor had a brother, Arthur, and a sister, Dorothy. By the time of his birth, the family were living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Taylor passed the 11-plus and attended the Royal Grammar School
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle
Royal Grammar School Newcastle upon Tyne, known locally and often abbreviated as RGS, is a long-established co-educational, independent school in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It gained its Royal Charter under Queen Elizabeth I...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Newcastle was subject to bombing raids and Taylor was evacuated to Penrith
Penrith, Cumbria
Penrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....
where he lived in a house without either running water or mains electricity. He had 3 daughters Ruth, Deborah and Judith and one son Louis. If he were still alive he would have 12 grandchildren.
Early career
In 1951 Taylor won an exhibition to Pembroke College, CambridgePembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
to study law. He was also a talented pianist, continuing to play for the whole of his life. He graduated in 1953 with an upper second class degree and then read for the Bar, being called
Call to the bar
The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...
in 1954. He chose to practise on the north-eastern circuit around Newcastle and joined the chambers of Norman Harper. He conducted mainly criminal cases, often for the prosecution, and at a very early age 'took silk' to become a Queen's Counsel
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...
in 1967; he occasionally appeared for the defence and on one such occasion, the reactionary judge Melford Stevenson
Melford Stevenson
Sir Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson PC was a British lawyer and High Court judge who served in many high-profile cases. He defended Ruth Ellis and prosecuted suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams, both unsuccessfully.-Career:Stevenson was educated at Dulwich College. He became a barrister in...
deemed him a threat to the administration of justice.
Famous cases
Taylor attracted attention from 1973 when he appeared for the prosecution in several cases connected to the corrupt architect John PoulsonJohn Poulson
John Garlick Llewellyn Poulson was a British architect and businessman who caused a major political scandal when his use of bribery was disclosed in 1972. The highest-ranking figure to be forced out was Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling...
, including that of Poulson himself. Over the next three years, the prosecutions succeeded and many of those involved were jailed. In 1974, Taylor successfully prosecuted Judith Ward
Judith Ward
Judith Theresa Ward is a British woman known for being a victim of unsafe convictions in 1974 for the bombing of Euston Station in 1973, and of the National Defence College and M62 coach bombings in 1974. Her conviction was quashed and she was released from prison on 11 May 1992...
who was convicted of a series of IRA bombings (many years later, the conviction was found to have been a miscarriage of justice, mostly through Ward's delusions of her own guilt). He also prosecuted Stefan Kiszko
Stefan Kiszko
Lesley Susan Molseed was an eleven-year old girl from Turf Hill, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who was murdered on Rishworth Moor in West Yorkshire....
in July 1976, in what would become one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British Law in the 20th Century. Taylor also took on John Ryman
John Ryman
John Ryman QC is a former British Labour Party Member of Parliament who sat as an independent MP for his last year in the House of Commons.Ryman was a barrister and a fox-hunter...
, a fellow Barrister and Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Blyth Valley who was found to have submitted fraudulent election expenses.
The most high profile trial in which Taylor appeared was that of former Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
leader Jeremy Thorpe
Jeremy Thorpe
John Jeremy Thorpe is a British former politician who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976 and was the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979. His political career was damaged when an acquaintance, Norman Scott, claimed to have had a love affair with Thorpe at a time...
for conspiracy to murder in 1979. Although all involved were acquitted, most observers put this down to the summing-up of the trial judge and the malpractice of the prosecution witnesses; Taylor won praise for his handling of the case. His opening address is frequently quoted; Taylor's style of oratory was deliberately concise and straightforward but he had a talent for a punning literary allusion.
Judge
Taylor had been first appointed a Recorder (part-time Judge) in 1969 and served as a Recorder in the Crown Court from 1972. After serving as Chairman of the Bar Council for 1979-80, he was made a full High Court Judge in the Queen's Bench Division. One of his first cases saw him give Bromley London Borough CouncilLondon Borough of Bromley
The London Borough of Bromley is a London borough of south east London, England and forms part of Outer London. The principal town in the borough is Bromley.-Geography:...
permission to challenge the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
's "Fare's Fair" policy of lowering public transport fares. In 1983 Taylor held that a Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i man who had pronounced Talaq
Divorce (Islamic)
In Islam there are separate rules for divorce for men and women under the terms of Islamic law . When a man has initiated a divorce the procedure is called . When a woman has initiated a divorce it is called khula ....
and notified the authorities in Pakistan had not divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d his wife according to English law.
In 1984, Taylor largely sided with Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
who brought a case against the Independent Broadcasting Authority
Independent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
over the television film "Scum
Scum (film)
Scum is a 1979 British crime drama film directed by Alan Clarke, portraying the brutality of life inside a British borstal. The story was originally made for the BBC's Play for Today strand in 1977, however due to the violence depicted in the film, it was withdrawn from broadcast...
"; he said the Director-General of the IBA had made "a grave error of judgment" in allowing the film to be shown. The next year, he held that Nottinghamshire police had acted negligently in firing CS gas
CS gas
2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile is the defining component of a "tear gas" commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agent...
into a house knowing there would be a fire risk and not having fire engines on standby. In 1987 he stated that he did not accept that a Judge could not inquire further when a Minister raised a justification of 'national security' for their actions (the case concerned the telephone tapping
Telephone tapping
Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
of Joan Ruddock
Joan Ruddock
Joan Mary Ruddock is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Lewisham Deptford since 1987. She is a feminist and is the wife of Frank Doran, the Labour MP for Aberdeen North...
).
Court of Appeal
In 1988 Taylor was promoted to the Court of AppealCourt of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
. There he became known to the public on 17 April 1989 when he was commissioned by the government to undertake an inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
two days previously. He seemed an appropriate choice as he had been a lifelong supporter of Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
and had spent many Saturdays on the terraces during his youth. The Taylor Report
Taylor Report
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report, better known as the Taylor Report is a document, whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. An interim report was published in August 1989, and the final...
led to the introduction of all-seater stadiums at top English football clubs, and the removal of fences around fans sitting areas. Standing accommodation was seen as a risk due to the increased chances of a "crush", and the security fences which Taylor describes as treating spectators like "prisoners of war" were also a hazard in crushes as they claimed the lives of most of the 96 people who ultimately lost their lives at Hillsborough; 94 of them died on the day of the disaster, a 95th died several days later, and the final victim died in March 1993 having never regained consciousness.
Taylor's recommendations, published on 29 January 1990, stated that all First and Second Division (which became the Premier League and Division One in 1992) stadiums had to be all-seater by August 1994, and that the rest of the Football League should follow suit by August 1999. However, the Football Association later ruled that the smaller clubs could retain standing accommodation provided that their stadiums met safety requirements, while clubs promoted to the upper reaches of the league would be allowed standing accommodation at their stadiums for up to three years after promotion.
Taylor's popularity as a former Chairman of the Bar Council and as a fair judge who could plausibly claim to have been in touch with all aspects of British life led to his being considered the favourite to take over from Lord Lane
Geoffrey Lane, Baron Lane
Geoffrey Dawson Lane, Baron Lane AFC PC QC was a British Judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1980 to 1992. The later part of his term was marred by a succession of disputed convictions...
when Lane retired from the job of Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
, a retirement which seemed all the more likely due to the criticism of Lane for his stance on a succession of miscarriages of justice. Taylor was duly appointed when Lane stepped down in 1992, receiving a life peerage as Baron Taylor of Gosforth, of Embleton in the County of Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
at the same time.
Lord Chief Justice
Where Lane had been extremely reticent about giving interviews, Taylor was determined to be as open as possible. Not only did he start his tenure by holding an unprecedented press conference, he appeared as a guest on BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television's Question Time and as a castaway on Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
. Within a few months of taking over he accepted an invitation to give the annual Dimbleby Lecture
Richard Dimbleby Lecture
The Richard Dimbleby Lecture was founded in the memory of Richard Dimbleby, the BBC broadcaster. It has been delivered by an influential business or political figure almost every year since 1972 ....
on "The judiciary in the nineties" in which he cast himself as a reformer. He supported moves to stop Judges wearing wigs in court.
Unlike previous holders of the office, Taylor concentrated almost exclusively on appeals rather than acting as a trial judge. This was partly because a backlog had grown up but also because of the much increased concern over a series of cases going back many years which were being proved to be miscarriages of justice. Taylor differed from his immediate predecessor in considering this an immensely serious issue, and knew from his own experience of prosecuting Judith Ward and Stefan Kiszko
Stefan Kiszko
Lesley Susan Molseed was an eleven-year old girl from Turf Hill, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who was murdered on Rishworth Moor in West Yorkshire....
that many more cases could come to light. This led him to strong support of the full disclosure of prosecution evidence (he also supported moves towards disclosure of defence evidence).
Taylor was with the grain of public opinion in supporting stronger sentences on drunk drivers who killed, and he also extended the range of defences available to domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
victims who fought back. He also extended the concept of murder to include the murder of unborn children in their mother's womb. Because of his unusual openness, his view was often heard on matters of political controversy: he could live with the change to allow juries to draw adverse inferences from defendant's silence when interviewed, but opposed moves restricting the right of an accused to elect trial by jury.
Illness
Taylor was profoundly affected by the death of his wife in 1995, and shortly afterwards he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The last appeal he heard was that of Rosemary WestRosemary West
Rosemary Pauline "Rose" West is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995...
, which he turned down. He stepped down in 1996, although did not go quietly: in a series of speeches in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
over the next year he strongly attacked proposals from the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
, to introduce mandatory sentencing, which he said "must involve a denial of justice". He died in 1997.
External links
- Honour from the City of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- Portrait of Taylor at the National Portrait GalleryNational Portrait Gallery (England)The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in London, England, housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off...
, London