James Chadwin

Who was James Chadwin?

James Armstrong Chadwin QC was a prominent British barrister, whose cases included defending Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper".

Chadwin was born in Glasgow and educated at the High School of Glasgow, Glasgow University and Jesus College, Oxford. Whilst at Oxford, he was active as an actor and director in university theatre and also joined the Oxford University Air Squadron. He then spent six years in the Royal Air Force as an education officer at RAF Sandwich, his eyesight not being good enough to enable him to be a pilot.

He was then called to the bar by Gray's Inn in 1958 and joined chambers in Newcastle upon Tyne where his contemporaries included Peter Taylor, later Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. Chadwin practised mainly in the field of criminal law and became a Queen's Counsel in 1976. He also became a Recorder in the same year, presiding over some trials at the Old Bailey. He was later appointed a Bencher of Gray's Inn and, in 1988, Leader of the Northern Circuit.

Chadwin represented Peter Sutcliffe in 1981. Sutcliffe had admitted killing 13 women and attempting to kill seven others.