His Honour Norman Henry Jones KC (1941-2023)
Barrister of the Middle Temple 1968
Queen’s Counsel 1985
Circuit Judge 1992-2001
Senior Circuit Judge and Recorder of Leeds, 2001-2007
Norman Jones was born in Appledore in the middle of the Second World War. HMS Appledore as it was known, became the home of the American fleet preparing for D Day. Norman’s father, Harry, had joined the Royal Air Force and was based at Chivenor, which was how he met Norman’s mother. We did not see much of our fathers during our childhood, and we were both brought up by formidable mothers and grandmothers. Our nursery was playing in the street, and we were disciplined by whichever mother saw us up to no good – which was often! We went crabbing on the quay and out in whoever’s fishing or sailing boat we could persuade to take us. We walked out to Badstep and Sandymere for picnics, and up the Copse to play in the woods!
Norman started out at the Little School in the Appledore Methodist Chapel a year before me, and we were taught by three fearsome teachers – Miss Winnie, Miss Lily and Miss Fanny! The building would not have met any modern educational standards – being just a church hall divided into three classrooms by curtains, and we all went home to dinner, but we had a good start to our education. In due course, we moved up to the junior school at the top of the hill, where we were prepared by the equally formidable Miss Tilly Gorrell for the Scholarship exams, and Norman duly took his place in the Bideford Grammar School. Norman was always top of the class and became the Senior Prefect, however he was in trouble as often as the rest of us and we all felt the swish of the Headteacher’s cane from time to time! Norman was not a fan of Cross-Country running, and his mother somehow convinced Doctor Valentine to write to the Games Master saying that he had a weak heart – we all laughed! Many years later he found out that he really did have a weak heart and was affected by it in the last years of his life,
In Appledore, he became a member of the Church Youth Club, where the vicar had an electric gramophone and he was an early jiver to the songs of Elvis Presley and Bill Haley and the Comets. We took part in Church services and were confirmed! Norman did not have so much time for Church when he became an adult, but his later life and career were all at one with his faith in a world in which everybody had an equal place and opportunity. This influenced his becoming chairman of the Young Liberals during the famous 1958 by-election when Mark Bonham Carter won the Torrington seat for the Liberals. He later continued this interest in politics and was a parliamentary candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1983.
Norman went to the North Devon Technical College and Leeds University where he read Law. He married Trudy and made his home in Guiseley on the edge of Leeds, but he never lost his links with Appledore, even though it has changed immensely. He had three children, Gareth, Nicholas and Helena of whom he was a proud and very supportive father. As a lawyer he defended Donald Neilson in the Black Panther trial and as a judge he presided over many important fraud and murder trials. I happened to be in Leeds and sat at the back of the Court when he presided over the trial of Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader.
He retired from the bench in 2007 and then worked part-time for the Surveillance Commission from 2007-2018. He engaged in the oversight and inspection of the covert surveillance carried out by government bodies, police forces and local authorities. He also took part in a Home Office / EU overview of the training of the Judiciary in Romania. Well into his retirement he continued to be active in local charities and his local community.
Norman was an incredible family man, citizen and lawyer, and helped to make our world a better place. I was very proud to take part and speak at his funeral. Above all else, I was proud to call him my friend.
Ellis Blackmore, Oct 2023
