John Collins (born 23 May 1944) is an Irish barrister called to the Bar in 1967. He was called to the English Bar in the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1972. He was called to the Bar of New South Wales, Sydney in 1989. he has participated in prominent criminal court cases, primarily in England. He founde
Westgate Chambers
in Lewes, Sussex in 1987. From there approximately 50 Barristers serve all of South East England.

Personal life

He grew up in Killiney, Co. Dublin. He attended Presentation College, Glasthule,

Cistercian College, Roscrea Cistercian College, Roscrea or Roscrea College is a private boarding school in Ireland. It is a Roman Catholic seven-day and five-day boarding and day school for boys, founded in 1905. Its pupil population is primarily made up of boarding stud ...

and Redemptorist College, Limerick. Whilst studying law at the

King's Inns, Dublin The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

, he was elected Auditor of the Law Students Debating Society. His Inaugural coincided with the 50th. Anniversary of the Easter Rising and was attended by a very distinguished audience. He delivered his Inaugural address "Retrospect 66" in front of the then President,

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...

, who was involved in that Rising. Also present was the British Ambassador, Sir Geoffrey Tory, Cardinal Conway, The Irish Chief Justice,(who later became President) Cearbhaill O Dalaigh, Seán Lemass, the Taoiseach and an array of Judges, Politicians and Lawyers. Before settling down to practising law he founded Squash Ireland. This was the first commercial Squash venture in Ireland. Before he sold it to a consortium headed by Paddy McGrath, he had built 5 Courts in Rathgar, 6 in Dalkey and 8 in Clontarf. When he sold in 1975,Irish Times, January 3rd 1975 - http://www.lostsheep.com/reference/McGrath3175.pdf he brought his wife and children to live in

Pinner Pinner is a London suburb in the London borough of Harrow, Greater London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 31,130 in 2011. Originally a med ...

, Middlesex. This coincided with the deteriorating security situation in Ireland. He was married twice, to his first wife for 28 years and then to his second wife for 4 years. John has 5 children, Patrick Collins(PJ), Aisling Collins, Paul Collins, Glenn Collins and Maria Collins, Maria Collins is his last daughter. His children have the nationality of their country of origin but his last daughter María Collins, she has the Paraguayan nationality and the provisional residence and nationality of Brazil, she has irish and british descent, she’s considered multilingual.

Famous cases

In Ireland he was leading counsel in the much disputed attempt to rezone the Harold's Cross Greyhound track in 1971. In 1972 he argued, unsuccessfully, for the registration of the word " poteen". In England he participated in many leading criminal trials. The most famous was the £25 million gold

Brink's-Mat robbery The Brink's-Mat robbery occurred at the Heathrow International Trading Estate, London, United Kingdom, on 26 November 1983. £26 million (equivalent to £ in ) worth of gold bullion, diamonds, and cash was stolen from a warehouse. The bull ...

from Heathrow Airport in 1983. He represented the first named handler of the proceeds, Brian Perry.(Times) He was one of the counsel in the Case that set down the guidelines for sentencing in Rape Cases . (Criminal appeal Reports)

References

External links

DeBretts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, John Joseph Irish barristers 1944 births Living people Alumni of King's Inns People educated at Cistercian College, Roscrea Lawyers from County Dublin People from Killiney 20th-century Irish lawyers