ROYAL COMMISSION ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE - Members appointed
01 January 1991
ROYAL COMMISSION ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE - Members appointed
bacdoc June=1991
The membership of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice was
announced on 15 May 1991 by the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon
Kenneth Baker MP. The Royal Commission has been set up
following the decision of the Court of Appeal to quash the
convictions of Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Robert Hunter,
Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker for murder
arising from the Birmingham pub bombings on 21 November 1974.
The following have been appointed members of the Royal
Commission on Criminal Justice:
Viscount Runciman of Doxford (Chair)
Mr Robert Bunyard
Professor Sir John Cadogan
Professor John Gunn
Sir John May
Mrs Yve Newbold
Ms Usha Prashar
Miss Anne Rafferty QC
Sir John Wickerson
Sir Philip Woodfield
Professor Michael Zander
The Royal Commission will hold its first meeting in June.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON MEMBERS
Chair: Viscount Runciman of Doxford CBE FBA: Chairman of Andrew
Weir and Co. Ltd. Joint Deputy Chairman Securities and
Investments Board. Treasurer, Child Poverty Action Group.
R.S. Bunyard Esq CBE QPM: HM Inspector of Constabulary,
Commandant of Police Staff College, Bramshill.
Professor Sir John Cadogan, CBE FRS: Director of Research,
British Petroleum.
Professor John Gunn: Professor of Forensic Psychiatry,
Institute of Psychiatry.
Rt Hon Sir John May: Conducting Guildford and Woolwich Inquiry.
Retired Lord Justice of Appeal. Previously chairman of Inquiry
into UK Prison Service (1978-79).
Mrs Yve Newbold: Solicitor, Company Secretary, Hanson plc, Non-
executive director, British Telecom, Governor London Business
School, Member of Advisory Board of Crime Concern.
Ms Usha Prashar: Director, National Council for Voluntary
Organisations. Formerly Fellow of the Policy Studies Institute
and Director, Runneymede Trust. Member of Lord Chancellor's
Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct.
Miss Anne Rafferty QC: Barrister. Recorder. Formerly Member
of Pigot Committee on the giving of evidence by vulnerable
witnesses. Secretary of Criminal Bar Association.
Sir John Wickerson: Solicitor. Managing partner, Ormerod
Wilkinson. Deputy Chairman R Mansell Ltd. President of Law
Society (1986-87). President London Criminal Court Solicitors
Association (1980-81).
Sir Philip Woodfield KCB CBE: Formerly Permanent Secretary,
Northern Ireland Office. Staff Counsellor for the Security and
Intelligence Services.
Professor Michael Zander: Professor of Law, London School of
Economics. Solicitor.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
To examine the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in
England and Wales in securing the conviction of those guilty of
criminal offences and the acquittal of those who are innocent,
having regard to the efficient use of resources, and in
particular to consider whether changes are needed in
i. the conduct of police investigations and their
supervision by senior police officers, and in
particular the degree of control that is exercised by
those officers over the conduct of the investigation
and the gathering and preparation of evidence;
ii. the role of the prosecutor in supervising the
gathering of evidence and deciding whether to proceed
with a case, and the arrangements for the disclosure
of material, including unused material, to the
defence;
iii. the role of experts in criminal proceedings, their
responsibilities to the court, prosecution, and
defence, and the relationship between the forensic
science services and the police;
iv. the arrangements for the defence of accused persons,
access to legal advice, and access to expert
evidence;
v. the opportunities available for an accused person to
state his position on the m