Brian Langstaff

Last updated

Deborah Weatherup
​
(m. 1975)​
The Honourable
Sir Brian Langstaff
Justice of the High Court
In office
3 October 2005 –30 April 2018
Alma mater St Catharine's College, Cambridge

Sir Brian Frederick James Langstaff (born 30 April 1948) is a British judge. Called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, he served as a High Court judge from 2005 to 2018 as Mr Justice Langstaff, and was the president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal from 2012 to 2015.

Contents

From 2018 to 2024, Langstaff chaired the Infected Blood Inquiry, which investigated the causes and effects of the contaminated blood scandal in the United Kingdom from the 1970s to the 1990s. In his seven-volume final report, Langstaff found that the scandal could "largely, though not entirely, have been avoided", and that successive governments and the National Health Service covered up the risk to patients who received infected blood products.

Early life and education

Langstaff was born on 30 April 1948 to Frederick and Muriel Langstaff ( née  Griffin). He was educated at George Heriot's School, Edinburgh, and then at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Before his legal career, he worked in Sri Lanka with VSO in 1966 and 1967. [1]

In 1971, Langstaff was called to the Bar of England and Wales at the Middle Temple, where he received the Harmsworth Scholarship in 1975. He became a bencher of the Middle Temple in 2001. [1] Langstaff was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1994, [2] and became a recorder for the South Eastern Circuit in 1995. [3]

Langstaff was appointed a justice of the High Court on 3 October 2005 [4] and assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. [5] He became the president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal from 1 January 2012, succeeding Mr Justice Underhill, [6] and was succeeded by Mrs Justice Simler on 1 January 2016. [7] [8]

Langstaff was appointed on 8 February 2018 to chair the Infected Blood Inquiry, which investigated the contaminated blood scandal in the United Kingdom during the 1970s to the 1990s. He retired from the High Court on 30 April 2018 [9] [10] to work full-time on the inquiry. [11] In an interim report published in July 2022, Langstaff concluded that the 4,000 victims were provisionally entitled to £100,000 each and the payments ought to be made quickly. [12] [13]

Notable cases

Personal life

Langstaff married Deborah Weatherup in 1975. They have a son and a daughter. [1]

Related Research Articles

Sir Noel Plunkett Power, was a senior judge in Hong Kong and Brunei Darussalam. He had been a barrister-at-law in his home-country Australia when he joined the judiciary of Hong Kong in 1965 as a magistrate in the Lands Tribunal. Since then, he had been successively promoted as President of the Lands Tribunal, a puisne judge of the Supreme Court and Vice-President of the Court of Appeal. In 1996, he became acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when Sir Ti-liang Yang resigned and contested for the first ever election of the Chief Executive. After the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain to People's Republic of China in 1997, he was appointed Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of the High Court. He retired from the High Court in 1999 but remained as a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Court (Hong Kong)</span> Superior court of record with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction in Hong Kong

The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a part of the legal system of Hong Kong. It consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance; it deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond the lower courts. It is a superior court of record of unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction. It was named the Supreme Court before 1997. Though previously named the Supreme Court, this Court has long been the local equivalent to the Senior Courts of England and Wales and has never been vested with the power of final adjudication.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in England and Wales and Scotland, and is a superior court of record. Its primary role is to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales. It also hears appeals from decisions of the Certification Officer and the Central Arbitration Committee and has original jurisdiction over certain industrial relations issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Hallett, Baroness Hallett</span> English judge (born 1949)

Heather Carol Hallett, Baroness Hallett,, is a retired British judge of the Court of Appeal and a crossbench life peer. The first woman to chair the Bar Council and the fifth woman to sit in the Court of Appeal, Hallett led the independent inquest into the 7/7 bombings. In April 2019, she was appointed Chair of the Security Vettings Appeal Panel. In December 2021, she was announced as the chair of the public inquiry into the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 29 June 2022, the Government accepted Baroness Hallett's proposed terms of reference for the inquiry, with minor changes suggested by the devolved administrations.

Thomas Aloysius Finlay was an Irish judge, politician and barrister who served as Chief Justice of Ireland and a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1985 to 1994, President of the High Court from 1974 to 1985 and a Judge of the High Court from 1971 to 1985. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-Central constituency from 1954 to 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contaminated blood scandal in the United Kingdom</span> The historical contamination of blood products in the UK with HIV and hepatitis C virus

The contaminated blood scandal, also known as the infected blood scandal, is a British medical scandal in which a large number of people were infected with hepatitis C and HIV, as a result of receiving contaminated blood or contaminated clotting factor products. Many of the products were imported from the US, and distributed to patients by the National Health Service throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Most recipients had haemophilia or had received a blood transfusion following childbirth or surgery. It has been estimated that more than 30,000 patients received contaminated blood, resulting in the deaths of at least 3,000 people. In July 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May announced an independent public inquiry into the scandal, for which she was widely praised as successive governments going back to the 1980s had refused such an inquiry. May stated that "the victims and their families who have suffered so much pain and hardship deserve answers as to how this could possibly have happened." The final report was published in seven volumes on 20 May 2024, concluding that the scandal could have been largely avoided, patients were knowingly exposed to "unacceptable risks", and that doctors, the government and NHS tried to cover-up what happened by "hiding the truth".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew McFarlane (judge)</span> British judge

Sir Andrew Ewart McFarlane is a British judge. He was a Lord Justice of Appeal in England and Wales from 2011 to 2018, and became President of the Family Division in July 2018 upon Sir James Munby’s retirement from that office.

Sir Brian Henry Leveson is a retired English judge who served as the President of the Queen's Bench Division and Head of Criminal Justice.

Sir Michael John Burton, styled Mr Justice Burton, is a former judge in the High Court of England and Wales. He was the President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal between October 2013 and September 2018, having been vice-president since its inception in 2000, the Chair of the Central Arbitration Committee for over 17 years and the former President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (2002–2005), which was reformed under his presidency. He is an international commercial court judge for the ADGM Courts, which apply English Common Law.

Sir Martin James Moore-Bick, PC is a retired judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Ryder</span>

Sir Ernest Nigel Ryder, became a Lord Justice of Appeal in April 2013 and was appointed Senior President of Tribunals in September 2015. In July 2020, Ryder became the Master of Pembroke College, Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyn Williams</span> Welsh judge (born 1951)

Sir Wyn Lewis Williams is a Welsh judge who served as President of Welsh Tribunals from 2017 to 2023. He had been a High Court judge from 2007 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick McGuire (solicitor)</span> Scottish solicitor and solicitor advocate

Patrick McGuire is a Scottish solicitor and solicitor advocate. He is a partner with personal injury law firm Thompsons Solicitors Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Vos</span> British judge (born 1955)

Sir Geoffrey Charles Vos is a judge in England and Wales. Since January 2021, he has held the positions of Master of the Rolls and the Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingrid Simler, Lady Simler</span> British judge (born 1963)

Ingrid Ann Simler, Lady Simler, DBE, PC is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. She was previously a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Green (judge)</span> British judge

Sir Nicholas Nigel Green is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. He also served as the Chair of the Law Commission of England and Wales between 2018 and 2023. He was appointed Deputy Senior Presiding Judge with effect from January 2024.

Sir Robert Anthony Francis KC is a British barrister. He specialises in medical law, including medical and mental health treatment and capacity issues, clinical negligence and professional discipline. He has appeared as a barrister for and chaired several high-profile inquiries into medical controversies/scandals.

The Penrose Inquiry was the public inquiry into hepatitis C and HIV infections from NHS Scotland treatment with blood and blood products such as factor VIII, often used by people with haemophilia. The event is often called the Tainted Blood Scandal or Contaminated Blood Scandal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Bellamy, Baron Bellamy</span> British barrister and judge (born 1946)

Christopher William Bellamy, Baron Bellamy,, is a British barrister and former judge.

<i>HIV Haemophilia Litigation</i> Legal action by haemophiliacs infected with HIV through blood products

The HIV Haemophilia Litigation [1990] 41 BMLR 171, [1990] 140 NLJR 1349 (CA), [1989] E N. 2111, also known as AMcG002, and HHL, was a legal claim by 962 plaintiffs, mainly haemophiliacs, who were infected with HIV as a result of having been treated with blood products in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first central defendants were the then Department of Health, with other defendants being the Licensing Authority of the time, (MCA), the CSM, the CBLA, and the regional health authorities of England and Wales. In total, there were 220 defendants in the action.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Langstaff, Hon. Sir Brian (Frederick James)" . Who's Who . A & C Black. 2023. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U23796.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ↑ "No. 53646". The London Gazette . 19 April 1994. p. 5807.
  3. ↑ "No. 53942". The London Gazette . 1 February 1995. p. 1439.
  4. ↑ "No. 57779". The London Gazette . 7 October 2005. p. 12971.
  5. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack 2012. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2011. p. 318. ISBN   9781408130124 . Retrieved 18 September 2021. Law Courts and Offices: Hon. Sir Brian Langstaff, born 1948, apptd 2005.
  6. ↑ "New President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal appointed". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 30 September 2011. Archived from the original on 2 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "Mrs Justice Simler appointed as President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal". Employment Cases Update. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  8. ↑ "About the Employment Appeal Tribunal". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Senior Judiciary". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  10. ↑ "High Court: Retirement of The Honourable Sir Brian Frederick James Langstaff". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 1 May 2018. Archived from the original on 1 June 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  11. ↑ "The Chair". Infected Blood Inquiry. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  12. ↑ "Infected blood victims set for £400m in compensation". BBC News. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Infected blood victims 'should be paid £100,000 each without delay'". The Daily Telegraph . London. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022. In an interim report, Sir Brian Langstaff said payments should be made "without delay" to those infected or to their bereaved partners.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.