Sir Nigel Hamilton Sweeney KC (born 18 March 1954), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Sweeney, is a former High Court judge. He retired on 18 March 2023.

Biography

Sweeney studied law at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

under Sir John Cyril Smith. 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 ...

in 1976 at the

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 ...

, where he was made a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

in 1997, that same year he was appointed First Senior Prosecuting Counsel to the Crown, and 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 2000. He was appointed to the High Court (

Queen's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court of common law in ...

) in September 2008. Prior to being appointed a High Court judge, Sweeney was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, practising from 6 King's Bench Walk and specialising in terrorism, official secrets, murder and major health and safety trials. He prosecuted a number of notable criminal trials, including the perpetrators of the 1984 IRA Brighton bombing and the attempted bombings of 21 July 2005, Neo-Nazi terrorist

David Copeland The 1999 London nail bombings were a series of bomb explosions in London, England. Over three successive weekends between 17 and 30 April 1999, homemade nail bombs were detonated in Brixton in South London; at Brick Lane, Spitalfields, in the ...

and murderers Michael Stone and Kamel Bourgass. Sweeney was appointed Presiding Judge of the South Eastern CIrcuit in 2012, and the Judge in Charge of the Terrorism List in 2013. He was also the Judge responsible for European Liaison in relation to criminal law issues, and was a member of the Judges’ Council. He presided over the trial in February and March 2013 of former

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change The secretary of state for energy and climate change was a British Government cabinet position from 2008 to 2016. The Department of Energy and Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008 when then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his Cabi ...

Chris Huhne Christopher Murray Paul Huhne (born 2 July 1954) is a British energy and climate change consultant, and former journalist, business economist and politician who was the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh ...

MP and his former wife,

Vicky Pryce Vasiliki "Vicky" Pryce (' Kourmouzi (); born 15 July 1952) is a Greek-born British economist and a former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service. She is the Chief Economic Adviser at the Centre for Economics and Busine ...

, 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 ...

contrary to

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

. He sentenced another MP

Denis MacShane Denis MacShane (born Josef Denis Matyjaszek; 21 May 1948) is a British former politician, author, commentator and convicted criminal who served as Minister of State for Europe from 2002 to 2005. He joined the Labour Party in 1970 and has held ...

for fraud in the aftermath of the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. He presided over and was sentencing judge in high-profile cases involving terrorists and extremists, such as the two men responsible for the

murder of Lee Rigby On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier#United Kingdom, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale n ...

in 2013, the man convicted of the murder of MP

David Amess Sir David Anthony Andrew Amess ( ; 26 March 1952 – 15 October 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Southend West from 1997 until Murder of David Amess, his murder in ...

and

White supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

bomber

Pavlo Lapshyn Pavlo Serhiyovych Lapshyn (; born 12 March 1988) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian Neo-Nazi terrorist who committed crimes in 2013 against Muslims in the United Kingdom. Lapshyn was given a life sentence, and will serve a minimum of 40 years, for a murde ...

He was also involved in numerous other high profile cases. He was the presiding judge in the trial of

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (30 March 1930 – 10 May 2023) was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He used a variety of instruments in his performances, notably the didgeridoo and the Stylophone, and is credited with the inventi ...

for various counts of indecent assault dating back to the 1960s. He was the sentencing judge for the

murder of Sabina Nessa On the evening of 17 September 2021, Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old woman was murdered in south east London. Her body was found the following day in Cator Park, Greenwich, having been beaten and strangled. Koci Selamaj, an Albanian-born man resid ...

, sentencing Koci Selemaj to a minimum of 36 years in prison. He was also the presiding judge in the Essex lorry deaths trials where 39

Vietnamese people The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and Dongxing, Guangxi, southern China who speak Vietnamese language, Viet ...

were killed in the back of a lorry; four perpetrators received a combined 92 years in prison. Sweeney is also an associate professor at the School of Law at Nottingham University.

Notable cases

2020 Reading stabbings On the evening of 20 June 2020, a man with a knife attacked people who were socialising in Forbury Gardens in Reading, Berkshire. Three men died from their wounds, and three other people were seriously injured. Khairi Saadallah, a 25-year-old ...

* Babes in the Wood murders (Brighton) *

Murder of David Amess On 15 October 2021, Sir David Amess, a Conservative Party (UK), British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Southend West, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery at Belfai ...

Murder of Lee Rigby On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier#United Kingdom, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale n ...

Murder of Lynette White Lynette Deborah White (5 July 1967 – 14 February 1988) was murdered in Cardiff, Wales. South Wales Police issued a photofit image of a bloodstained, white male seen in the vicinity at the time of the murder but were unable to trace the man. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, Nigel Living people 1954 births People educated at Wellington School, Somerset Alumni of the University of Nottingham British barristers Members of the Middle Temple 21st-century King's Counsel Queen's Bench Division judges Knights Bachelor Place of birth missing (living people)