Mr Justice Sweeney | |
|---|---|
 | |
| High Court Judge (King's Bench Division) | |
| Assumed office 1 October 2008 | |
| Monarchs | Elizabeth II Charles III |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 March 1954 United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | University of Nottingham |
Sir Nigel Hamilton Sweeney KC (born 18 March 1954),styled The Hon. Mr Justice Sweeney,was a High Court judge. He retired on 18 March 2023.
Sweeney studied law at the University of Nottingham [1] under Sir John Cyril Smith. He was called to the bar in 1976 at the Middle Temple,where he was made a bencher in 1997,that same year he was appointed First Senior Prosecuting Counsel to the Crown,and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000. [2] He was appointed to the High Court (Queen's Bench) in September 2008. [3] [4]
Prior to being appointed a High Court judge,Sweeney was a barrister in the United Kingdom,practising from 6 King's Bench Walk and specialising in terrorism,official secrets,murder and major health and safety trials. He prosecuted a number of notable criminal trials,including the perpetrators of the 1984 IRA Brighton bombing and the attempted bombings of 21 July 2005, [5] [6] Neo-Nazi terrorist David Copeland [7] and murderers Michael Stone [8] and Kamel Bourgass. [9]
Sweeney was appointed Presiding Judge of the South Eastern CIrcuit in 2012,and the Judge in Charge of the Terrorism List in 2013. He was also the Judge responsible for European Liaison in relation to criminal law issues,and was a member of the Judges’Council. [10]
He presided over the trial in February and March 2013 of former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne MP and his former wife,Vicky Pryce,for perverting the course of justice contrary to common law. [11] [12] He sentenced another MP Denis MacShane for fraud in the aftermath of the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. [13]
He presided over and was sentencing judge in high-profile cases involving terrorists and extremists,such as the two men responsible for the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, [14] [15] the man convicted of the murder of MP David Amess [16] [17] and White supremacist bomber Pavlo Lapshyn [18]
He was also involved in numerous other high profile cases. He was the presiding judge in the trial of Rolf Harris for various counts of indecent assault dating back to the 1960s. [19] [20] He was the sentencing judge for the murder of Sabina Nessa,sentencing Koci Selemaj to a minimum of 36 years in prison. [21] He was also the presiding judge in the Essex lorry deaths trials where 39 Vietnamese people were killed in the back of a lorry;four perpetrators received a combined 92 years in prison. [22]
Sweeney is also an Associate Professor at the School of Law at Nottingham University. [10]
Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence,carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Statutory versions of the offence exist in Australia,Canada,Ireland,and New Zealand. The Scottish equivalent is defeating the ends of justice,although charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice are also raised in Scotland,while the South African counterpart is defeating or obstructing the course of justice. A similar concept,obstruction of justice,exists in United States law.
His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is a Category A men's prison in Thamesmead,southeast London,England. The prison is used for high-profile cases,particularly those concerning national security. Within the grounds is the High Security Unit (HSU),which consists of 48 single cells. It is run by His Majesty's Prison Service. The prison has been called "Britain's Guantanamo Bay" due to the long-term detention of terrorism suspects without charge.
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Regina v Christopher Huhne and Vasiliki Pryce is the prosecution of the former British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change,Chris Huhne MP,and his former wife,Vicky Pryce,the former Head of the Government Economic Service,for perverting the course of justice,contrary to common law. Huhne became the first Cabinet minister in British history to resign as a consequence of criminal proceedings. On 4 February 2013,Huhne was convicted on the basis of his own plea after re-arraignment. The trial of Pryce began on the following day,lasting until 20 February 2013 when the jury were discharged by the judge. A re-trial began on 25 February 2013 and led to the conviction of Pryce on 7 March 2013.
Jeffrey Blackett is a British former judge and Royal Navy officer with the rank of Commodore. He was Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces from 2004 to 2020 and among the cases over which he presided was that of "Marine A". Blackett was criticised by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for sentencing Sgt Alexander Blackman RM to a life sentence for murder,as he failed to give the board the option to pass a lesser sentence of manslaughter. According to the report,the CCRC,which investigates miscarriages of justice,said Judge Blackett was guilty of a "material irregularity" in the original trial,due to an "apparent failure to recognise the position regarding manslaughter during the trial and to direct the board appropriately". Subsequently the Court Martial Appeal Court rejected any criticism of Blackett. They said:"We could see no basis for any criticism of the conduct of the Court Martial by the Judge Advocate General. He left the issues which had been raised by the prosecution and the defence during the hearing of the Court Martial to the Board in an entirely fair and proper manner." Alexander Blackman's murder conviction was eventually quashed in 2017 after a successful appeal.
Sir Timothy Victor Holroyde,PC,styled The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Holroyde,is an English Court of Appeal judge,formerly a judge of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales,Queen's Bench Division. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in October 2017. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 2017. In 2015 he was appointed a member of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales,and served as its Chairman between 2018 and 2022. In June 2022 he was appointed Vice-President of the Court of Appeal,succeeding Lord Justice Fulford.
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013,a British Army soldier,Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers,was attacked and killed by Islamist terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich,southeast London.
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On 15 October 2021,David Amess,a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Southend West,was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Leigh-on-Sea,Essex. His killer was Ali Harbi Ali,a British Islamic State sympathiser,who was arrested at the scene. Ali was convicted of murder and the preparation of terrorist acts in April 2022,and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.
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