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Hillsborough, Jill Dando, and Stephen Lawrence: Top barrister Michael Mansfield on his legal career

Helen Greaney
By Helen Greaney

September 2022: Famous barrister Michael Mansfield KC – dubbed the “king of human rights work” – has shared insight on some of his most high-profile cases in an explosive interview with Viva!.   

Speaking to Tony Wardle on the Viva! Vegan Podcast, Mansfield discusses a number of cases that will be flashbulb memories for much of the British public, including the death of Lady Diana, the Hillsborough tragedy and the murder of journalist, Jill Dando. Mansfield worked on each of these legal cases and more during his monumental legal career which has spanned decades. 

Barry George’s wrongful conviction for Jill Dando’s murder 

Mansfield represented Barry George when he was wrongfully convicted of the murder of BBC presenter Jill Dando – a case that dominated the front pages of newspapers.  

When asked in the podcast about how it feels when someone you’ve represented gets sent down, Mansfield replied: “Dreadful, because you’d be incredibly arrogant to think it had nothing to do with you. My first question would be “what had I done? What didn’t I do?”. On this occasion I remember it because I was angry, but you have to contain yourself. I thought the only way I have of dissipating the contained anger is something physical. So I walked home, pounding the streets all the way. […] I remember the walk because every pace I was going back over and over [the case]. I have to have a facility to absorb and accommodate a case that’s gone so badly wrong.” 

This conviction was later judged unsafe by the Court of Appeal and quashed in 2007. After a retrial, he was acquitted on 1 August 2008. 

The Stephen Lawrence inquiry: is the Met still racist? 

Most Brits will remember the Stephen Lawrence murder and the subsequent inquiry that kickstarted a chain reaction leading to constitutional reform. In the podcast, Tony Wardle asks Mansfield: “Are the Met Police still institutionally racist?” 

“Yes,” Mansfield responds immediately. “In that enquiry, we began not believing that the high court judge would come to the conclusion that the Met is racist. But we saw how he slowly came to the realistion that this whole enquiry had been infected by institutional racism.  

“It was only this year that police officers have been circulating between themselves some pretty disgusting language. So quite rightly, Sadiq Khan said that Cressida Dick had to go.” Mansfield then goes on to explain he believes institutional corruption is also embedded in the Met. 

Hillsborough: the moment families embraced with joy in court 

Few could forget the shocking incident that saw almost a hundred people crushed to death at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. Mansfield represented many of the families during the lengthy legal inquests that followed, and in the Viva! Vegan Podcast he recalls the moment the decision was revealed. “At the end of Hillsborough, after years of court hearings, when the jury revealed their findings they found in favour of the families on every single issue that we put before them. […] There was an incredible silence as they read it all out. You could hear people taking a deep breath. And then something happened I’d never seen in court. The families all stood up in court and embraced each other. And it was quite a remarkable feeling that the people had actually stretched across this court and had found justice at last. I sat there stricken with amazement, wonder and joy.” 

Factory farming and the introduction of ecocide 

As well as being an inspirational human rights lawyer, Mansfield also has an active interest in the climate and animal welfare. He is a patron of the UK’s leading vegan charity Viva! – who create the Viva! Vegan podcast. 

Speaking about factory farming in the podcast, Mansfield states: “I feel very strongly that the industrial farming we have on our fields is appalling. Viva! Have done some amazing undercover work. [This is an] issue I feel strongly about, and I’ve got a contribution still to make.”  

Mansfield also spoke at the launch of one of Viva!’s campaigns Vegan Now about wanting to make ecocide an offence. In the podcast he reaffirms his stance on this, proclaiming: “There are crimes against humanity. It seems to me, this is one: where states permit the destruction of an environment in lots of different ways.” 

You can listen to the full podcast here, or via all good podcast platforms. 

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