Lawyer whose battles against miscarriages of justice have changed legal history

Gareth Peirce

• 
  

• 
• • 
    
  • The Guardian, Tuesday 8 March 2011
  • 
    



Gareth Peirce. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

There are probably few people on this list more private than Gareth Peirce. Despite one of the longest legal careers in the UK, she shuns the limelight. Her fame derives purely from her cases – a 30-year run of groundbreaking battles against miscarriages of justice that have changed legal history.

In the 1980s she represented the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, victims of the witch-hunt against Irish men during the height of the Troubles. More recently she has become a key architect in the fight against draconian counter-terrorism measures, representing the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead at Stockwell tube station in a bungled terrorism raid, and Moazzam Begg, who was detained in Guantánamo Bay. Her work defending those who are at the sharp end of state power has led many human rights activists to describe her name as "synonymous with civil rights".

Cumbria shootings inquest delayed by legal argument

Published at 13:51, Monday, 07 March 2011

The inquest into the Derrick Bird shootings was delayed by a legal wrangle over what should be released to the media.

The national media, represented by Guy Vassall-Adams, wanted some of the evidence heard in court to be made available to them, including a footage of Derrick Bird in his taxi with a gun.

But coroner David Roberts said that: "I am sure that the public has more than sufficient information to help them understand the events that unfolded on the day."

He said that some of the evidence would be made available but only after witnesses in Whitehaven town centre had given their evidence.

Invoking the principle of open justice, Mr Vassall-Adams said that in cases where there is an overriding public interest, anything that is shown in open court in general is disclosed to the media.

He said that media had no "absolute right" to this information but cited principles involved in high profile cases, including the inquests into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Jean Charles De Menezes and the London bombings.

Sphere: Related Content