Sir John Henry Boulton Saunders (born 15 March 1949), formerly styled The Hon. Mr Justice Saunders, is a retired High Court Judge of the

King'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 ...

. Saunders 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 ...

in 1972 and acted as a prosecutor for the

Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a Ministry (government department), ministry of the Her Majesty's Government, British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed b ...

throughout the 1980s. He was a

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 ...

between 1990 and 2004 and became a

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 1991. In 2004, Saunders was appointed a full-time circuit judge as well as taking the honorary appointment of Recorder of Birmingham (the most senior judge at

Birmingham Crown Court The Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, in Dalton Street, Birmingham, England. History Until the mid-1980s, all Crown Court cases were heard in the Victoria Law Courts in Corporation Street. H ...

) and in April 2007 was appointed to the

High Court bench The high courts of India are the highest courts of appellate jurisdiction in each state and union territory of India. However, a high court exercises its original civil and criminal jurisdiction only if the subordinate courts are not authorize ...

and received the customary

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

Notable cases

Parliamentary expenses scandal

In 2010–11, Saunders became known as the judge who presided over the trials and sentencing of several former MPs and peers in connection with the Parliamentary expenses scandal. He gave the judgment at first instance which was affirmed in both the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

and

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in ''

R v Chaytor ''R v Chaytor and others'' 010UKSC 52 was a 2010 judgment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The case concerned the trials of three former Members of Parliament for false accounting in relation to the parliamentary expenses scandal o ...

'' and passed sentences in excess of 12 months' imprisonment on MPs

David Chaytor David Michael Chaytor (born 3 August 1949) is a former British Labour Party politician, who was the member of parliament (MP) for Bury North from 1997 to 2010. He was the first member of Parliament to be sentenced following the United Kingdo ...

Elliot Morley Elliot Anthony Morley (born 6 July 1952) is a British former Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glanford and Scunthorpe from 1987 to 1997 and then Scunthorpe from 1997 to 2010. In 2009, he was accused by ''The ...

Jim Devine James Devine (born 21 May 1953) is a former Labour Party politician in Scotland. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 2005 until 2010 and chairman of the Scottish Labour Party between 1994 and 1995. On 16 June 2009, fol ...

and

Eric Illsley Eric Evlyn Illsley (born 9 April 1955) is a former British Labour politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley Central from 1987 until 2011. He was a Labour Party representative until suspended from the party after being char ...

and on Tory peers Lord Taylor of Warwick and

Lord Hanningfield Paul Edward Winston White, Baron Hanningfield, (16 September 1940 – 20 October 2024), was a British politician and farmer. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served in various leadership roles in local government in Essex and was inf ...

. During these cases he was noted for strongly criticising the leaders of all three major parties for attacking the defendant MPs' use of legal aid and attempted reliance upon Parliamentary privilege during the 2010 election campaign, and for requiring

Lord Sugar Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician, and political adviser. Sugar began what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics company A ...

to remove a tweet commenting on the ongoing proceedings.

2011 riots

On 17 April 2012, Saunders sentenced Darrel Desuze to detention for a term of eight years for the manslaughter of Richard Mannington Bowes during the

2011 England riots A series of riots took place between 6 and 11 August 2011 in cities and towns across England, which saw looting and arson, as well as mass deployment of police and the deaths of five people. The protests started in Tottenham Hale, London, follo ...

and his mother Lavinia Desuze to imprisonment for eighteen months for

perverting the course of justice Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Stat ...

after she destroyed clothing worn by her son on the day of the offence.

Newspaper hacking

In late 2013 and the first half of 2014, Saunders was the judge in charge of the high-profile ' hacking trial' that arose out of the

News International phone hacking scandal Beginning in the 1990s, and going as far until its shutdown in 2011, employees of the now-defunct newspaper ''News of the World'' engaged in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories. Investi ...

. At the start of the trial, Saunders noted that "The defendants are on trial but British justice is also on trial", and cautioned against the significant comment on the case that had been made online: Towards the end of the trial, Saunders issued a public request for public figures, in particular politicians, to avoid commenting on the trial until it had reached its conclusion. His intervention came after

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

had issued a public apology for employing

Andy Coulson Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968) is an English journalist and political strategist. Coulson was the editor of the ''News of the World'' from 2003 to 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to ...

as his director of communications following his being found guilty of conspiracy to hack phones, but while the jury were still considering other verdicts against Coulson and other defendants.

Manchester Arena Inquiry

In 2019 Saunders was the presiding coroner over the deaths caused by the

Manchester Arena bombing The Manchester Arena bombing, or Manchester Arena attack, was an Islamic terrorism in Europe, Islamic terrorist suicide bombing of Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2017, following Dangerous Woman Tour, a concert by the Americ ...

. Following his recommendation, the Home Secretary established a public inquiry into the incident under his chairmanship. The first report was issued on 17 June 2021, and the second report was issued on 2 February 2023.Manchester Arena Inquiry
11 April 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, John 1949 births Living people People educated at Uppingham School Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford 21st-century English judges English King's Counsel Knights Bachelor Queen's Bench Division judges 20th-century King's Counsel 20th-century English judges