Peter Openshaw

For the physician, see Peter Openshaw (physician).

Sir Charles Peter Lawford Openshaw, DL (born 1947), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Openshaw, is an English judge of the High Court, Queen's Bench Division,[1] in London. He was educated at Harrow School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1970, and served as a Recorder in 1988–99 at Preston,[2] made a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 2003, and Deputy Lieutenant for Lancashire in 2000.[3]

He and his wife, Caroline Swift, were sworn in as High Court judges on the same day in October 2005, which was thought at the time to be a first.[4]

Openshaw Internet statements

Openshaw attracted international media attention, when he stated in open court at Woolwich Crown Court, east London on 16 May 2007, "The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is." Court officials later said his statement was an attempt to clarify issues for the benefit of the court, not for himself, as is the role of the judiciary.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Appointments at the Wayback Machine (archived July 22, 2004)
  2. ↑ Preston welcomes new Honorary Recorder
  3. ↑ New Knighthoods Conferred
  4. ↑ "Married judges make legal history", BBC News Online, September 30, 2005. Accessed June 6, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Statement from the Judicial Communications Office: Mr Justice Openshaw". Judicial Communications Office. 17 May 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2012.