Sir Hugh Eames Park (24 April 1910 – 24 January 2001) was a British judge of the High Court in the

Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

and 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 ...

. In 1976, he was the judge in the trial that convicted Stefan Kiszko of the

murder of Lesley Molseed Lesley Molseed , born Lesley Susan Anderson, was an English schoolgirl who was abducted and murdered on 5 October 1975 in West Yorkshire. Stefan Kiszko ( ), an intellectually disabled man who lived near Molseed's residence in Greater Manches ...

. The case has been called one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the history of the British legal profession.

Early life

Hugh Park was born in

Pinhoe Pinhoe is a former village, manor and ecclesiastical parish, now a suburb on the north eastern outskirts of the City of Exeter in the county of Devon, England. The 2001 census recorded a population of 6,108 people resident within Pinhoe Ward, ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

,''1911 England Census'' near

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

and educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...

and

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

, where he excelled at hockey, rugby and rowing. Park subsequently taught at St Dunstan's prep school in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, before reading for the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

. He was called by

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1936, and began practising in general common law on the

Western Circuit Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

from chambers in Middle Temple. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1960.

World War II

Park served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was seconded to SOE in 1942. As part of his duties he debriefed

Odette Sansom Odette Marie Léonie Céline Hallowes, (née Brailly; 28 April 1912 – 13 March 1995), also known as Odette Churchill and Odette Sansom, code named Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in ...

and after the war he acted in her divorce so that she could marry

Peter Churchill Peter Morland Churchill, Croix de Guerre (1909 – 1972) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) officer in France during the Second World War. His wartime operations, which resulted in his capture and imprisonment in German concentrat ...

Legal career

Park's legal appointments included: *

, 1960 *

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

, 1959–1960 *Recorder of

, 1960–1964 *Recorder of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, 1964–1965 *Judge of the Family Division of the High Court, 1965–1973 *Judge of the Courts of Appeal,

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, 1964–65 *Chairman of Devon

Quarter Sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland establ ...

, 1964–71 *Judge of the High Court of Justice, 1973–1985 *Presiding Judge on the

, 1970–1975

Notable cases

Park's notable cases include: * Miles Giffard in the early 1950s: the accused had murdered his wealthy parents in their kitchen, placed their bodies in a wheelbarrow, wheeled them to the cliff edge, and tipped them down into the sea. The man was sentenced to death, despite a plea by the defence that he was insane. Although not contemporaries, both Giffard and Park were educated at

. *Stefan Kiszko in 1976 for the

Murder of Lesley Molseed Lesley Molseed , born Lesley Susan Anderson, was an English schoolgirl who was abducted and murdered on 5 October 1975 in West Yorkshire. Stefan Kiszko ( ), an intellectually disabled man who lived near Molseed's residence in Greater Manches ...

: the tax clerk from Rochdale would serve 16 years in prison because scientific evidence proving his innocence was suppressed by

West Yorkshire Police West Yorkshire Police, formerly the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth largest territorial police force in England ...

. On Kiszko's release in February 1992, a Conservative MP called the original trial one of the "greatest miscarriages of justice" of all time. Park himself said that he was sorry for the miscarriage of justice, but not for how he conducted the trial and wrote to Kiszko expressing his sorrow for his wrongful conviction. *Dracula attacker in 1977: a 52-year-old man was jailed by Park for eight years for a "Dracula-like" sexual attack on a housewife. The man was identified by the teeth marks he left on his victim's bottom. *

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

case at

Bristol Crown Court The Bristol Crown Court is a Crown Court venue which deals with criminal cases at Small Street in Bristol, England. The building, which was completed in 1868, was previously used as a main post office before it was converted for judicial use in ...

in 1978 following "

Operation Julie Operation Julie was a UK police investigation into the production of LSD by two drug rings during the mid-1970s. The operation, involving 11 police forces over a -year period, resulted in the break-up of one of the largest LSD manufacturing oper ...

" involving police officers – one of them named Julie – posing as hippies in the Welsh hills and London council estates. The 15 defendants, including two highly qualified chemists, two doctors of medicine, a teacher, and the American author David Solomon – a friend of the drugs guru

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". Accordin ...

, were jailed by Park for a total of 120 years for their part in one of the biggest LSD rings ever uncovered. * Fowzi Nejad in 1981, the sole terrorist survivor of the

Iranian Embassy Siege The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Embassy of Iran, London, Iranian embassy on Prince's Gate in South Kensington, London. The gunmen, Iranian Arabs campaigning for th ...

Personal life

Park married Beryl Josephine Coombe in 1938 and had three daughters. He was knighted in 1965. He died at his home on 24January 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Hugh 1910 births 2001 deaths People educated at Blundell's School Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 20th-century English judges Queen's Bench Division judges Family Division judges Knights Bachelor Royal Air Force officers Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division judges Special Operations Executive personnel