| Keir Starmer QC |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 2 September 1962 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | St Edmund Hall, Oxford |
| Occupation | Barrister |
| Spouse | Victoria |
| Children | 2 |
Keir Starmer, QC, (born 2 September 1962, Southwark) is a barrister in England and Wales. He became the fourteenth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the sixth head of the Crown Prosecution Service on 1 November 2008.[1] Until then, although he had prosecuted cases for the CPS during his career, he was mainly known as a defence lawyer, with special expertise in the law of human rights.[2]
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Starmer was the second of four children. He was named after former Labour Party leader and socialist Keir Hardie.[3] He was educated at Reigate Grammar School. He gained a 1st class LLB from the University of Leeds in 1985 and a BCL from St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1986.
He became a barrister in 1987, became a Queen's Counsel in 2002, and was joint head of his chambers, Doughty Street Chambers.
Acting in several appeals to the Privy Council for defendants who had been sentenced to death in Caribbean countries, his legal submissions led to the abolition of the mandatory death penalty in those countries. He worked with lawyers in African countries towards the same end. In 2005 he persuaded the House of Lords that evidence obtained by torture should be inadmissible in court. In 2007 he represented two alleged terrorists in a case in the House of Lords in which he successfully challenged their control orders on human rights grounds. He has also acted in 15 other cases in the House of Lords since 1999, including two cases about the conduct of British soldiers in Iraq, and representing David Shayler in his appeal against conviction for breaching the Official Secrets Act 1989. He gave free legal advice to the defendants in the "McLibel" case,[4] and was interviewed twice — ten years apart — in Franny Armstrong's 2005 documentary, McLibel.
He was a human rights advisor to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Association of Chief Police Officers. He is a member of the Foreign Secretary's Death Penalty Advisory Panel. In 2007 he was named "QC of the Year."[5] He is generally seen as supportive of the Labour Party.[6]
On 25 July 2008 the Attorney-General, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, named him as the next head of the CPS, to take over from Sir Ken Macdonald, QC on 1 November 2008. Macdonald, himself a former defence lawyer, welcomed Starmer's appointment.
One issue he has had to deal with as DPP is that of victims' rights. After the controversial conviction of Munir Hussain on 14 December 2009 for attacking a burglar who had terrorized Hussain and his family, he said:
Keir Starmer QC[7]:There are many cases, some involving death, where no prosecutions are brought ... We would only ever bring a prosecution where we thought that the degree of force was unreasonable in such a way that the jury would realistically convict. So these are very rare cases and history tells us that the current test works very well.
Starmer was involved[8] in the decision to prosecute Omari Roberts, a trainee builder who killed a teenage burglar in a struggle at Roberts's mother's home.[9] The prosecution case relied on the evidence of a second teenage burglar (who had many previous convictions for violent offences), and was eventually dropped on 19 April 2010, with Roberts being formally found not guilty. Mr. Roberts said:
Omari Roberts[10]:I never understood why they would not believe me and why they constantly took the word of a 14-year-old criminal over mine.
Roberts's mother suggests that if she had not been so vocal in her protests over the decision to prosecute or the 2010 general election was not in progress, the prosecution might not have been dropped.[8]
On 22 July 2010 Starmer announced the controversial decision not to prosecute the police officer Simon Harwood in relation to the Death of Ian Tomlinson resulting in accusations by Tomlinson's family of a police cover up.[11]
On the 21st July 2011 Starmer was honoured at the University of Essex and was provided with an Honorary degree.[12]
He is the author and editor of several books about criminal law and human rights.[13]
He married Victoria, a solicitor, in 2007 and has a son and daughter.[14]
| Preceded by Sir Ken Macdonald |
Director of Public Prosecutions 2008–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |