The Rt Hon. Sir Peter Gibson (born 1935) is a retired British barrister and judge who served as the Intelligence Services Commissioner until January 2011. He was appointed[1] by David Cameron in July 2010 to lead the Detainee Inquiry[2].
Gibson was educated at Malvern College[3] and graduated from Worcester College, Oxford.[3]
He was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1960, and was knighted and appointed to the High Court of Justice in 1981, serving in the Chancery Division. From 1990 to 1992 he served as Chairman of the Law Commission. In 1993, he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, retiring in 2005.[3]
In 2006, he was made Intelligence Services Commissioner, with his first term expiring in 2009.[4] He was given a second term on 1 April 2009, which was set to expire on 31 March 2012.[5]
On the 6 July 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Gibson was to head an inquiry into allegations that the UK Intelligence services were complicit in the torture of detainees, including those from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp or subject to rendition flights.[6]
Gibson stepped down as Commissioner in January 2011 to head the new inquiry, and Sir Mark Waller was appointed as Commissioner by the Prime Minister David Cameron.[7]