Heather Hallett, Baroness Hallett Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Baroness Hallett
Office:Vice-President of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal
Term Start:8 November 2013
Term End:21 October 2019
Predecessor:Sir Anthony Hughes
Successor:Sir Adrian Fulford
Office2:Vice-President of the Queen's Bench Division
Term Start2:3 October 2011
Term End2:3 March 2014
Predecessor2:Sir John Thomas
Successor2:Sir Nigel Davis
Office3:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start3:11 October 2019
Life peerage
Birth Name:Heather Carol Hallett
Birth Date:1949 12, df=yes
Birth Place:Eastleigh, England
Party:Crossbench (since 2019)
Children:2
Alma Mater:St Hugh's College, Oxford
Occupation:Judge

Heather Carol Hallett, Baroness Hallett, (born 16 December 1949), 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.[1] 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.[2]

Early life and education

Hallett was born in Eastleigh in 1949 and was the daughter of Hugh Victor Dudley Hallett (1919–1991), a beat policeman who worked his way up to the rank of assistant chief constable and secretary general of the International Police Association.[3] [4] [5] Hallett recalled during BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that one of her early childhood homes was their local police station, which doubled as a custody suite. She was educated at Brockenhurst Grammar School, in the New Forest, and at St Hugh's College, Oxford.

Legal career

Hallett was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1972, specialising in criminal law. She successfully defended a stepfather wrongly accused of murder in an early "cot death" related trial.[6] She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1989 and a Bencher of Inner Temple in 1993. She was the first woman to chair the Bar Council, in 1998, having been vice-chair in 1997, and became Treasurer of the Inner Temple in 2011.

Hallett was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court in 1989, then a deputy High Court judge in 1995, before becoming a full-time judge of the High Court in 1999, assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. As a High Court judge, she received the customary appointment as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on 21 July 1999. She was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2005. She was appointed a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission in January 2006, as a representative of the judiciary.

Hallett was chosen in 2009 to act as coroner in the inquest of the 52 fatal victims of the 7/7 bombings. She was widely praised for her empathy towards the inquest witnesses. She began a four-year term as Vice-President of the Queen's Bench Division on 3 October 2011, succeeding Baron Thomas of Cwmgiedd.[7] In May 2012 in an appeal hearing she quashed the murder conviction of 24-year-old Sam Hallam as unsafe after he had spent seven years in prison; he was one of the youngest victims of a UK miscarriage of justice.[8]

In February 2013, she was described as the 8th most powerful woman in Britain by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.[9] In November 2013, she was appointed Vice-President of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, succeeding Lord Hughes of Ombersley.[10]

In March 2014, she was appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to carry out an independent review of the administrative scheme by which 'letters of assurance' were sent to those known as the 'on the runs'.[11]

In December 2021, she was announced as the chair of the public inquiry into the UK government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]

In July 2022, the terms of reference for the public inquiry into the UK government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic were agreed by Boris Johnson, and he launched the public inquiry.[13]

Honours and affiliations

She was appointed as a Queen's Counsel (QC) on 4 April 1989.[14]

She was sworn in as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in 2005. This entitled her to the honorific prefix "The Right Honourable" and after ennoblement the post-nominal letters "PC" for life.

She was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) by the University of Derby in 2000.[15] She was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Portsmouth in 2013.[16]

On 14 June 2017 she was made an Honorary Fellow of The Academy of Experts in recognition of her contribution to The Academy's Judicial Committee and work for Expert Witnesses.

She is the patron of Women in Criminal Law.[17]

Hallett is an honorary fellow of her alma mater, St Hugh's College, Oxford.

House of Lords

Hallett was nominated for a life peerage in the 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours,[18] and was created Baroness Hallett, of Rye in the County of East Sussex, on 11 October 2019. She sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords and last voted in 2021.

Personal life

Hallett is married to Nigel Vivian Marshall Wilkinson, a recorder and deputy high court judge.[19] They have two sons.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 2021-12-15. Ex-High Court judge Baroness Hallett to chair Covid inquiry. en-GB. BBC News. 2021-12-16.
  2. Web site: HM Government . Acceptance of COVID-19 Inquiry Terms of Reference . Gov.UK . HM Government.
  3. Web site: Law: You call it trouble, I call it success. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/law-you-call-it-trouble-i-call-it-success-1175679.html . 9 May 2022 . subscription . live. . October 1998 . 16 August 2018.
  4. Web site: Lady Justice Hallett: profile. 8 November 2011. 16 August 2018. www.telegraph.co.uk.
  5. Who's Who in the United Nations and Related Agencies, Arno Press, 1975, p. 236
  6. Web site: BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Heather Hallett, former judge and crossbench peer. 2021-06-11. BBC. en-GB.
  7. Appointment of Vice-President of the Queen's Bench Division and Deputy Senior Presiding Judge . 27 July 2011 . Judiciary of England and Wales . 12 October 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121218094840/http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/media-releases/2011/appointment-vice-president-qbd-deputy-spj . 18 December 2012 . dead .
  8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18094298 Sam Hallam freed on bail in murder conviction appeal
  9. Web site: Woman's Hour - The Power List 2013 - BBC Radio 4. BBC. 16 August 2018.
  10. Appointment of new Vice President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). 8 November 2013. 14 November 2013. Judiciary of England and Wales.
  11. Statement by the Hallett Review, 27 March 2014 . 27 March 2014 . The Hallett Review . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140502182645/http://www.hallettreview.org/lady-justice-halletts-initial-statement/ . 2 May 2014 . dmy-all .
  12. Web site: COVID public inquiry: Former appeal court judge Baroness Hallett to chair probe. 2021-12-15. Sky News. en.
  13. News: Covid: Terms of inquiry into UK pandemic response finalised . BBC News . 28 June 2022 .
  14. Web site: Queen's Counsel Appointment's 1989 . The London Gazette . 11 April 1989 . 1 June 2023 . en.
  15. Web site: Honorary Graduates . The University of Derby . 4 June 2023 . 4 June 2023 . en.
  16. Web site: Honorary degree recipients . The University of Portsmouth . 1 June 2023 . 1 June 2023 . en.
  17. Web site: Hill . Perveen . Women in criminal law . Law Gazette . 21 June 2021 . en.
  18. Web site: Resignation Peerages 2019. Cabinet Office. 10 September 2019.
  19. Web site: Profile: Lady Justice Hallett. Stephen. Bates. 11 October 2010. the Guardian. 16 August 2018.