Sir Charles Peter Lawford Openshaw, DL (born 1947), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Openshaw, is a retired

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the High Court,

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 ...

Early life

Openshaw was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

and

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The colle ...

Legal career

Openshaw 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 ...

by the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1970. On 9 April 1991, he was appointed 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 ...

(QC). On 16 March 1999, Openshaw was appointed a Circuit Judge. He was appointed the Honorary Recorder of Preston in 1999 and served for seven years. In September 2005, he was appointed as a High Court Judge and assigned to the

. In 2005, he became a member of the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee. He is no longer on the Committee. Between 2008 and 2012, he was a presiding judge of the North Eastern Circuit. 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 ...

of the

in 2003. He came to the attention of media when he said "The trouble is I don’t understand the language. I don’t really understand what a

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

is." during the trial of Younes Tsouli, Waseem Mughal, and Tariq al-Daour. The Judicial Communications Office later explained that he was clarifying the evidence presented for the court, not for himself. On 25 November 2016, he presided over the sentencing of

Stephen Port Stephen John Port (born 22 February 1975) is a British serial killer and serial rapist. He has been convicted of the murder of four young men and multiple rapes and sexual assaults of several others. Port received a sentence of Life imprisonment ...

who was found guilty of the four murders, 10 offences of administering a substance with intent, four rapes and four sexual assaults. Port was sentenced to life imprisonment with a

whole life order In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for parole after a minimum term ("tariff") set by the judge. In exceptional cases a judge may ...

for the four murders committed between June 2014 and September 2015. He sat as the Judge in the Hillsborough criminal trial R v Duckenfield and R v Mackrell at Preston Crown Court between January 2019 and April 2019.

Personal life

Openshaw is married to Dame

Caroline Swift Dame Caroline Jane Swift, Lady Openshaw, (born 30 May 1955), formerly styled The Hon. Mrs Justice Swift, is a British barrister and former High Court judge. She was leading counsel to the Inquiry in the Shipman Inquiry, which began in 2001. ...

. They were sworn in as High Court judges on the same day in October 2005.Married judges make legal history
, BBC News Online, September 30, 2005. Accessed June 6, 2007. He was the son of Judge William Harrison Openshaw, and his wife, Joyce. Judge William was murdered on 11 May 1981 by John Smith, whom the judge had sent to a borstal for 18 months in 1968 for theft of scrap metal. Smith hid in the judge's garage in Broughton, Lancashire, and stabbed him 12 times. Smith was caught, tried, and convicted of murder in November 1981, and sentenced to life with a minimum of 25 years served. In 2008, Peter Openshaw sentenced killer Daniel Breaks to 30 years, one day after the latter promised to escape custody and kill him. The judge turned to the jury and said he doubted that would happen.

Honours

On 10 May 2000, Openshaw was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. In 2008, he was appointed a lay

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Blackburn Cathedral Blackburn Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin with Saint Paul, is an Anglican (Church of England) cathedral situated in the heart of Blackburn town centre, in Lancashire, England. The cathedral site has ...

. He was

knighted 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 ...

upon being appointed as a high court judge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Openshaw, Peter 1947 births Living people Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge 21st-century English judges Queen's Bench Division judges People educated at Harrow School Members of the Inner Temple Deputy lieutenants of Lancashire 20th-century King's Counsel English Anglicans Knights Bachelor