Called to the Bar in 1967 Michael Mansfield has a B.A. Hons.Degree in History and Philosophy from Keele University before turning to law. He soon earned the respect of colleagues, mounting vigorous defences for clients. He made his name in the Angry Brigade trial in the early 1970s before establishing Tooks Court Chambers in 1984. He took silk (became a Queen’s Counsel) in 1989.
Mansfield has never shied away from controversial cases, especially where civil liberties are at stake. He has been involved in high profile cases such as Barry George – wrongly convicted of the murder of television presenter Jill Dando. He has also represented the families of victims of the Bloody Sunday shootings at the inquiry into those deaths and the family of Jean Charles de Menezes the entirely innocent Brasilian electrician shot dead by police in 2005.
At inquests he represented the families of Tom Hurndall and James Miller – journalists murdered by the Israeli army. He also represented the families of the Omagh, Lockerbie and Dublin bombings. The relatives of victims of the Marchioness Disaster and families of the victims of the New Cross Fire were his clients. Mansfield represented striking miners at Orgreave and also the Newham Seven and Bradford Twelve – victims of racist attacks who defended themselves.
Mansfield has a magnificent track record in such cases. Mahmood Mattan was the last man to be executed in Cardiff. He was innocent, but hanged in 1952 for the murder of Lily Volpert. Forty-six years later Mansfield helped to clear his name on appeal. He was involved in the successful appeals of the Birmingham Six, Judith Ward, Annette Hewins, Harry Mackenny, M25 Three, Newsagent’s Three and Bridgewater Four.
Stephen Miller, one of the Cardiff Three was represented by Mansfield at his successful appeal in 1992. It later became the first case of vindication in Britain when the real killer Jeffrey Gafoor pleaded guilty in 2003 to the murder of Lynette White, which occurred fifteen years earlier. Had Mansfield represented Miller at trial one of Britain’s most notorious miscarriages of justice may have been avoided.
Michael Mansfield has written extensively in all major broadsheets and law journals and he has appeared in several documentaries. His books Presumed Guilty and the most recent Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer have been critically acclaimed. He is the President of Amicus, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers and National Civil Rights Movement.He has also contributed the foreword to Sekar’s second bookThe Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt, which can be ordered at http://www.fittedinproject.org/books.html and fully supports the work of The Fitted-In Project.