Sir Adrian Bruce Fulford (born 8 January 1953) is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal. From 2017 to 2019, he was the first

Investigatory Powers Commissioner The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (c. 25) (nicknamed the Snoopers' Charter) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 29 November 2016. Its different parts came into force on various dates from 30 December 2 ...

, and was the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in 2019, succeeding Lady Justice Hallett. Previously, he was a judge of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

from 2003–12, the Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales from January 2016 to March 2017, and former member of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL).

Early life

Fulford was born on 8 January 1953. He was educated at

Elizabeth College, Guernsey The Royal College of Elizabeth, better known as Elizabeth College, is a co-educational independent school in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. One of the earliest members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), it is a public school ...

and went up to the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, gaining a

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

. From 1974 to 1975, he served as a housing advisor at Shelter's Housing Aid Service.

Legal career

He was called to the bar at 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 ...

as a barrister in 1978, and appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1994. One of Fulford’s earliest, and most prominent cases was serving as barrister to Mr Ronnie Bolden, on trial at the Old Bailey in 1989 charged with armed robbery by the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad (SCS), which was later disbanded.

Judicial career

In 1995, Fulford was made a

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of the Crown Court (re-appointed in 2001). His appointment as a High Court judge on 21 November 2002 was the first such appointment of an openly homosexual QC.

High Court

He was appointed to the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

and received the customary

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

. Though he became a judge of the

in 2003, Fulford continued his work at the High Court, presiding over a number of high-profile cases. Among these were the

21 July 2005 London bombings trial On 15 January 2007 six men appeared at Woolwich Crown Court in connection with the attempted 21 July 2005 London bombings on London public transport. On 9 July 2007 the jury found Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Hussain Osman, and Ramzi Moham ...

, an extremist Muslim plot to cause deadly explosions similar to those which killed over 50 people on 7 July; the trial of terrorist plotter Saajid Badat; and the trial of PC Simon Harwood for the death of a street newspaper seller Iam Tomlinson in the City of London. Fulford's term on the ICC ended on 11 March 2012. On 11 May 2012, Fulford imposed a

whole life order In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for early release after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases, however, a jud ...

on David Oakes, who was convicted at the Crown Court at Chelmsford of the premeditated and sadistic murder of his former partner and daughter. Fulford also presided over the trial of Jiervon Barlett and Najed Hoque who were accused of the manslaughter of Paula Castle, a woman mugged in

Greenford Greenford () is a suburb in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, England, lying west from Charing Cross. It has a population of 46,787 inhabitants, or 62,126 with the inclusion of Perivale. Greenford is served by Greenford Station (L ...

, West London. He sentenced them to 13 years. Fulford received the UK Government's nomination, and was subsequently elected in 2003 to serve, as one of 18

judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

of the

for a term of nine years, and was assigned to the Trial Division. He was sworn into office on 11 March 2003. Fulford presided over the ICC's first trial, that of

Thomas Lubanga Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (born 29 December 1960) is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese P ...

, and in that capacity delivered the court's first guilty verdict on 14 March 2012.

Court of Appeal

On 10 May 2013, Fulford was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal. In March 2014, the ''

Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

'' printed allegations that Fulford had been a supporter of the Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE) in the 1970s. Following this allegation, he stepped down from judging criminal cases and an official investigation by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office took place. The investigation, by

Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, (; 22 February 19481 December 2020) was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge who was Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. ...

, concluded on 18 June 2014 that the allegations against Fulford were "without substance" and he "was not and had never been a supporter of PIE or its aims". Following his exoneration, Fulford resumed sitting as a judge on the full range of appeals. Fulford was appointed as the Deputy Senior Presiding Judge on 1 January 2015, and was promoted to Senior Presiding Judge on 1 January 2016 succeeding Peter Gross. On 31 March 2017, Fulford stood down from this position, to accept appointment as the first

in which role he will be supported by fifteen senior judges appointed under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. In 2021, he presided over the sentencing of Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, who pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard. Sentencing him at the Old Bailey to a

whole-life tariff In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for early release after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases, however, a ju ...

, Fulford described the case as "devastating, tragic and wholly brutal" and told Couzens he had eroded public confidence in the police. On 1 October 2022, Fulford retired as a Lord Justice of Appeal.

Honours

* He was appointed as a

(QC) in 1994. * He was

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed as a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

on 16 December 2002. The award was

Gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 11 March 2003. * He was sworn in as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in 2013. This allows him the Honorific Title "

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...

" for Life. * He was awarded the

Honorary Degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

(LLD) by the

in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulford, Adrian 1953 births Living people Alumni of the University of Southampton English King's Counsel 21st-century English judges 20th-century English judges International Criminal Court judges Knights Bachelor LGBT judges English LGBT people Gay men Lords Justices of Appeal Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey Queen's Bench Division judges 20th-century King's Counsel British judges of international courts and tribunals 21st-century LGBT people