Thomas Hetherington

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Sir Thomas Hetherington QC was Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales from 1977 to 1987, and was the first head of the Crown Prosecution Service (1986-1987).

In 1989 he co-wrote (with Scottish prosecutor William Chalmers) the Hetherington-Chalmers Report which examined ways to prosecute suspected war criminals living in Britain for "crimes of murder, manslaughter or genocide committed in Germany and in territories occupied by German forces during the Second World War," over which British courts did not then have jurisdiction. The report followed a 15-month inquiry in which allegations against 301 suspects were investigated. The report's recommendations led two years later to the War Crimes Act 1991.


Preceded by
New creation
Heads of the CPS
1986–1987
Succeeded by
Sir Allan Green