John May

Who is John May?

Sir John May was a former Court of Appeal judge appointed by the British Government to investigate the miscarriages of justice related to the Maguire Seven and other miscarriages linked to IRA bombing offences. He was educated at Clifton College.

On 20 October 1989 following the quashing of the Guildford Four convictions, May was appointed to chair an inquiry into both that case and the related case of the Maguire Seven. On 12 July 1990, the Home Secretary David Waddington published the interim report, Interim Report on the Maguire Case : The Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the convictions arising out of the bomb attacks in Guildford and Woolwich in 1974.

The report criticised the trial judge John Donaldson. It unearthed improprieties in the handling of scientific evidence that were also relevant to the other cases and declared the convictions unsound and recommended referral back to the Court of Appeal.