Counsel from Hutton Inquiry made court ruling against police
THE judge who ruled against the Metropolitan Police’s use of a public order preventing Extinction Rebellion from protesting made his name as the lead counsel to the Hutton Inquiry into the death of David Kelly, the government scientist .
Lord Justice Dingemans – formerly James Dingemans QC – represented the judicial inquiry throughout the 2003 investigation, which exonerated Tony Blair of “sexing-up” a dossier on Iraq’s chemical weapons that formed the Government’s case for war.
Dr Kelly took his own life after he was named as the source of the BBC investigation into the dossier.
Lord Hutton, who carried out the inquiry, concluded that the accusation against Mr Blair and his government was “unfounded” and that nobody could have anticipated that Dr Kelly would take his life.
After the Hutton report was published, Mr Blair told the Commons: “The allegation that I or anyone else lied to this House or deliberately misled the country … is itself the real lie.”
Lord Justice Dingemans, a father of three who lives in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, was praised for his “extraordinary mental stamina” throughout the hearing.
“It compared to that of a Test match batsman lasting an entire day at the crease,” The Daily Telegraph reported at the time.
Graduating from Mansfield College, Oxford, Lord Justice Dingemans was a QC from 2002 until 2013, when he was appointed a High Court judge.
Two weeks ago, he took up the position of a Lord Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal.
He presided over yesterday’s judgment alongside Mr Justice Chamberlain – formerly Martin Chamberlain QC – who was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2016.
Mr Justice Chamberlain successfully defended the UK’S ban on broadcast political advertising in the European Court of Human Rights.