Nigel Sweeney was called to the bar in 1976 at the Middle Temple, where he was made a bencher in 1997, that same year he was appointed First Senior Prosecuting Counsel to the Crown, and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000.
13 Facts About Nigel Sweeney
1.
2.
Nigel Sweeney was appointed to the High Court in September 2008.
3.
Nigel Sweeney prosecuted a number of notable criminal trials, including the perpetrators of the 1984 IRA Brighton bombing and the attempted bombings of 21 July 2005, Neo-Nazi terrorist David Copeland and murderers Michael Stone and Kamel Bourgass.
4.
Nigel Sweeney was appointed Presiding Judge of the South Eastern CIrcuit in 2012, and the Judge in Charge of the Terrorism List in 2013.
5.
Nigel Sweeney was the Judge responsible for European Liaison in relation to criminal law issues, and was a member of the Judges' Council.
6.
Nigel Sweeney presided over the trial in February and March 2013 of former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne MP and his former wife, Vicky Pryce, for perverting the course of justice contrary to common law.
7.
Nigel Sweeney sentenced another MP Denis MacShane for fraud in the aftermath of the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal.
8.
Nigel Sweeney presided over and was sentencing judge in high-profile cases involving terrorists and extremists, such as the two men responsible for the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, the man convicted of the murder of MP David Amess and White supremacist bomber Pavlo Lapshyn.
9.
Nigel Sweeney was involved in numerous other high profile cases.
10.
Nigel Sweeney was the presiding judge in the trial of Rolf Harris for various counts of indecent assault dating back to the 1960s.
11.
Nigel Sweeney was the sentencing judge for the murder of Sabina Nessa, sentencing Koci Selemaj to a minimum of 36 years in prison.
12.
Nigel Sweeney was the presiding judge in the Essex lorry deaths trials where 39 Vietnamese people were killed in the back of a lorry; four perpetrators received a combined 92 years in prison.
13.
Nigel Sweeney is an associate professor at the School of Law at Nottingham University.