28 Facts About Barbara Mills

Dame Barbara Jean Lyon Mills DBE, QC was a British barrister.

Barbara Mills held various senior public appointments including Director of Public Prosecutions, and was widely seen as a pioneer for women gaining such appointments in the higher echelons of the legal profession.

Barbara Mills was born in Chorleywood, the daughter of John and Nora Warnock.

Barbara Mills was educated at St Helen's School, Northwood, where she became head girl, and then studied law at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, graduating in the second class in 1962.

Barbara Mills became a barrister at 3 Temple Gardens in 1967, in chambers headed by Edward Cussens.

Barbara Mills had a successful career as a barrister, specialising in criminal prosecution.

Barbara Mills became a prosecuting counsel in 1977, then junior Treasury Counsel at the Central Criminal Court in 1981.

Barbara Mills secured the convictions of Michael Fagan, an Irish vagrant who broke into Buckingham Palace in 1982 and stole a bottle of wine, exposing the Palace's lax security; of the Brighton bomber Patrick Magee in 1986; and of the Guinness Four in 1990.

Barbara Mills defended Winston Silcott when he was tried for the murder of Keith Blakelock in the Broadwater Farm riot in 1985; Silcott was convicted in 1987, but the conviction was quashed on appeal in 1991.

Barbara Mills became a recorder in 1982, and took silk to become a Queen's Counsel in 1986.

Barbara Mills was a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board from 1988 to 1990, a legal assessor of the General Medical Council and the General Dental Council, and a member of the Parole Board from 1990.

Barbara Mills was Director of the Serious Fraud Office from 1990 to 1992, during investigations of Barlow Clowes, Blue Arrow, Robert Maxwell's Mirror Group, and Polly Peck.

David Barbara Mills was later found guilty of accepting a cash bribe from Berlusconi, but the conviction was quashed by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation.

Barbara Mills worked to increase the efficiency of the CPS, and introduced victim impact statements.

Barbara Mills was criticised when the CPS declined to prosecute suspects for the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

Barbara Mills resigned in 1998 after she was criticised in reports by Gerald Butler and Sir Iain Glidewell for repeatedly refusing to bring prosecutions over deaths in police custody.

Barbara Mills ordered a 75-year embargo restriction on the Devon and Cornwall Police Investigation of failures by West Midlands Police in the Birmingham 6 scandal of 1974.

Barbara Mills was appointed as Adjudicator for Inland Revenue and for HM Customs and Excise on 26 April 1999, a part-time role independent of those departments, dealing with complaints from members of the public who are not satisfied with how the departments dealt with their complaints.

Barbara Mills retained the role as Adjudicator for HM Revenue and Customs when those bodies were merged in 2005, and held this post until 2009.

Barbara Mills was governor of London Guildhall University from 1999 and then its successor London Metropolitan University from 2002 to 2007, and was chair of the council of the Women's Library from 2001 to 2007.

Barbara Mills was a non-executive director of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust from 2000 to 2007.

Barbara Mills was the chair of the Professional Oversight Board of the Financial Reporting Council from 2008 until her death.

Barbara Mills was a trustee of Victim Support from 1999 to 2004.

Barbara Mills married John Barbara Mills in July 1962, shortly after they both graduated from Oxford.

Barbara Mills's husband was a businessman and a leading Labour Party councillor in Camden.

Dame Barbara Mills died on 28 May 2011, aged 70, after suffering a stroke 12 days earlier.

Barbara Mills was survived by her husband, their four children, and eight grandchildren.

Barbara Mills's ashes are interred in Highgate Cemetery.