Sir Richard George May (12 November 1938 – 1 July 2004) was a British judge. May was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and educated at Haileybury. Following national service with the

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

, he studied law at

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge (formally Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (18 ...

. He was called to the bar in 1965, and practised on the

Midland and Oxford Circuit The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some either way offences and appeals lied to it by the magistrates' courts. It is one of three Senior Courts of England and Wal ...

, principally in criminal prosecution work, initially from chambers at 10 King's Bench Walk and latterly from Devereux Chambers. He was a Recorder of the Crown Court until he was appointed as a Circuit Judge in 1987. He was also an active member of the Labour Party in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

from the mid-1960s, fighting unsuccessfully for a seat on

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

in 1968. He was a

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

ary candidate in

South Dorset South Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Richard Drax, a Conservative. The constituency was created as a consequence of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, although the area cover ...

in the 1970 general election. In 1971 May was elected to Westminster City Council, where he led the Labour Group from 1974 to 1977. He stood down from the council in 1978 to concentrate on his legal career but was still able to stand in the 1979 contest in

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's Finchley constituency. He came into the international limelight with his 1997 appointment to the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Most notably, he served as the presiding judge in the proceedings to prosecute former

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević on war crimes charges. May stepped down from that position, on grounds of poor health, in February 2004. He was knighted in June 2004 and died at his home in Oxfordshire a few weeks later of a brain tumour.

External links

Obituary of Sir Richard May
(

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Richard 1938 births 2004 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in England Durham Light Infantry soldiers Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge 20th-century English judges International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia judges Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Councillors in the City of Westminster People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Knights Bachelor British judges of United Nations courts and tribunals 20th-century British Army personnel 21st-century English judges