Hugh Park

Background

Hugh Park was born near Exeter and educated at Blundell"s School and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he excelled at hockey, rugby and rowing.

Education

Sidney Sussex College.

Career

In 1976, he was the judge in the trial that convicted Stefan Kiszko of the murder of Lesley Molseed. The case has been called one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the history of the British legal profession. Park subsequently taught at Street Dunstan"s prep school in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, before reading for the Bar.

He was called by Middle Temple in 1936, and began practising in general common law on the Western Circuit from chambers in Middle Temple.

He was appointed Queen"s Counsel in 1960. Park served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and was seconded to SOE in 1942.

As part of his duties he debriefed Odette Sansom and after the war he acted in her divorce so that she could marry Peter Churchill. Park’s legal appointments included:

Queen"s Counsel, 1960

Recorder of Penzance, 1959-1960

Recorder of Exeter, 1960-1964

Recorder of Southampton, 1964-1965

Judge of the Family Division of the High Court, 1965-1973

Judge of the Courts of Appeal, Channel Islands, 1964-1965

Chairman of Devon Quarter Sessions, 1964-1971

Judge of the Queen"s Bench Division, 1973-1985

Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit, 1970-1975

Park’s notable cases include:

The man was sentenced to death, despite a plea by the defence that he was insane.

Interestingly, although not contemporaries, both Giffard and Park were educated at Blundell"s School.

Stefan Kiszko in 1976 for the Murder of Lesley Molseed: the tax clerk from Rochdale would serve 18 years in prison because scientific evidence proving his innocence was suppressed by West Yorkshire Police. On Kiszko"s release in February 1992, a Conservative Member of Parliament called the original trial one of the "greatest miscarriages of justice" of all time. Park himself said that he was sorry for the miscarriage of justice, but not for how he conducted the trial.

Dracula attacker in 1977: a 52-year-old man was jailed by Park for eight years for a "Dracula-like" sexual attack on a housewife.

The man was identified by the teeth marks he left on his victim"s bottom. LSD case at Bristol Crown Court in 1978 following "Operation Julie" involving police officers - one of them named Julie - posing as hippies in the Welsh hills and London council estates.

Fowzi Nejad in 1981, the sole terrorist survivor of the Iranian Embassy Siege.

Connections

teacher:

David Solomon