Sir William Marcus Gage (22 April 1938 – 13 September 2023) was a British judge. He was a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Just ...

from 2004 until 18 November 2008.

Biography

William Marcus Gage was born on 22 April 1938. His father was Conolly Gage, a circuit judge. Like his father, William was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was th ...

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 ...

. He was a lieutenant in the Irish Guards during his national service. Gage was called to the Bar in 1963 and took Silk in 1982. As a barrister, he defended Dr Ann Dally, who was disciplined by the General Medical Council for prescribing controlled drugs to addicts in the 1980s. Gage was appointed a High Court Judge, Queen's Bench Division in 1993 and was presiding judge in the south-eastern circuit from 1997 to 2000. He received a

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 ...

in November 1993. Cases he presided over include the

Jill Dando Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961 – 26 April 1999) was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC and was the corporation's Personality of the Year in 1997. At the time of her death, he ...

murder case and the case against Sion Jenkins, a former deputy headmaster who was jailed for life in 1998 for the murder of his teenage foster daughter Billie-Jo. After retirement, he chaired a public inquiry into the 2003

death of Baha Mousa Baha Mousa was an Iraqi man who died while in British Army custody in Basra, Iraq in September 2003. The inquiry into his death found that Mousa's death was caused by "factors including lack of food and water, heat, exhaustion, fear, previous inju ...

. In his report, he condemned the use of banned interrogation methods after Mousa died of 93 injuries in British army custody in

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

, and deplored the absence of any "proper MoD doctrine on interrogation". He wrote "My judgment is that they constituted an appalling episode of serious, gratuitous violence on civilians which resulted in the death of one man and injuries to others. They represent a very serious breach of discipline by a number of members of 1QLR ." Gage was appointed a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

in 2004, entitling him to the honorific ''

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealt ...

'' for life. He is an honorary fellow of Sidney Sussex. William Gage died of complications from vascular dementia on 13 September 2023, at the age of 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gage, William 1938 births 2023 deaths Lord justices of appeal People educated at Repton School Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Irish Guards officers Knights Bachelor British King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Queen's Bench Division judges Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People associated with Buckinghamshire New University