Sir Roger John Royce (born 27 August 1944), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Royce, was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales. Born in

Virginia Water Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its na ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, he attended

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational private school in Cambridge, England. It is a boarding and day school for about 565 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen. The head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. ...

and

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. He was awarded Blue at Cambridge for

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, and later captained the

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

county hockey team. In 1970 he was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, and appointed as QC in 1987. He presided over the 2009 Plymouth child abuse trial, and sentenced the defendants to Indeterminate Public Protection prison terms, intended to protect the public against criminals regarded as too dangerous to be released when their original sentence has finished. In 2013, he presided over the trial of former

Lostprophets Lostprophets (stylised as lostprophets or LOSTPROPHETS) were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer Ian Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze. The group was founded after their former band Fleshbind broke up. They later recruit ...

singer Ian Watkins, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison with a further 6 years on extended licence after admitting to the attempted rape of a baby boy and 12 other offences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royce, John 1944 births Living people Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge English King's Counsel Knights Bachelor Members of Gray's Inn People educated at The Leys School People from Virginia Water Queen's Bench Division judges 20th-century King's Counsel