Adrian Fulford

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = Sir Adrian Fulford

| image = Adrian Fulford (cropped).jpg

| imagesize = 150px

| caption =

| office1 = Investigatory Powers Commissioner

| term_start1 = 3 March 2017

| term_end1 = October 2019

| appointer1 = Theresa May
as Prime Minister

| nominator1 = The Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd
as Lord Chief Justice

| office2 = Lord Justice of Appeal

| term_start2 = 10 May 2013

| term_end2 = 1 October 2022

| nominator2 = David Cameron
as Prime Minister

| appointer2 = Elizabeth II

| office3 = Judge of the International Criminal Court

| term_start3 = 11 March 2003

| term_end3 = 31 August 2012

| nominator3 = The Lord Irvine of Lairg
as Lord Chancellor

| appointer3 = Assembly of States Parties

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 =

| office4 = High Court judge
Queen's Bench Division

| term_start4 = 2002

| term_end4 = 2013

| appointer4 = Elizabeth II

| predecessor4 =

| successor4 =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|1|8|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| birthname = Adrian Bruce Fulford

| spouse =

| alma_mater = University of Southampton

}}

Sir Adrian Bruce Fulford {{post-nominals|country=GBR|PC}} (born 8 January 1953) is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal. From 2017 to 2019, he was the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner,{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/investigatory-powers-commissioner-appointed-lord-justice-fulford |title=Investigatory Powers Commissioner appointed: Lord Justice Fulford |publisher=gov.uk |date=3 March 2017 |accessdate=26 January 2019}} and was the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in 2019, succeeding Lady Justice Hallett.{{Cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.uk/announcements/appointment-of-the-vice-president-of-the-court-of-appeal-criminal-division/|title = Appointment of the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)| date=30 May 2019 }}

Previously, he was a judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague from 2003–12, the Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales from January 2016 to March 2017, and former member of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL).{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Early life

Fulford was born on 8 January 1953. He was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey and went up to the University of Southampton, gaining a LLB. From 1974 to 1975, he served as a housing advisor at Shelter's Housing Aid Service.{{Cite web |date=2019-12-01 |title=Fulford, Rt Hon. Sir Adrian Bruce, (born 8 Jan. 1953) |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-16554 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Who's Who (UK) |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u16554|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4 }}

Legal career

He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple as a barrister in 1978, and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1994.

One of Fulford’s earliest, and most prominent, cases was serving as counsel to Mr Ronnie Bolden, on trial at the Old Bailey in 1989 charged with armed robbery by the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad (SCS), which was later disbanded.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Judicial career

In 1995, Fulford was made a Recorder of the Crown Court (re-appointed in 2001). His appointment as a High Court judge on 21 November 2002{{London Gazette|issue=56765|page=14343|date=26 November 2002}} was only the second such appointment of an openly homosexual QC,{{cite web|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2008/11/28/comment-gay-judge-reflects-on-thirty-years-as-an-out-lawyer|title=Comment: Gay judge reflects on thirty years as an out lawyer|publisher=PinkNews.co.uk|date=28 November 2008}}{{Cite news|date=2022-06-22|title= First openly gay judge to lead LGBT veterans probe|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61882562|access-date=2024-02-20}} and the first to the King's Bench Division (then called the Queen's Bench Division).{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}.

= High Court =

Fulford was appointed to what was then the Queen's Bench Division and received the customary knighthood. Though he became a judge of the International Criminal Court in 2003, Fulford continued his work at the High Court, presiding over a number of high-profile cases. Among these were the 21 July 2005 London bombings trial,{{cite news|title=4 in London Bomb Plot Get Life Terms|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071100223.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=12 July 2007|accessdate=2 April 2009|first=Kevin|last=Sullivan}} an extremist Muslim plot to cause deadly explosions similar to those which killed over 50 people on 7 July; the trial of terrorist plotter Saajid Badat;{{cite news|title=Shoebomb plotter given 13 years|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4474307.stm|publisher=BBC News Online|date=22 April 2005|accessdate=2 April 2009}} and the trial of PC Simon Harwood for the death of a street newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson in the City of London. Fulford's term on the ICC ended on 11 March 2012.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

On 11 May 2012, Fulford imposed a whole life order on David Oakes, who was convicted at the Crown Court at Chelmsford of the premeditated and sadistic murder of his former partner and daughter. Fulford also presided over the trial of Jiervon Barlett and Najed Hoque who were accused of the manslaughter of Paula Castle, a woman mugged in Greenford, West London. He sentenced them to 13 years.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9260488/David-Oakes-jailed-for-murder-of-former-partner-and-two-year-old-daughter.html|title=David Oakes jailed for murder of former partner and two-year-old daughter|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=11 May 2012}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-17988361|title=David Oakes jailed for ex-partner and daughter murders |publisher=BBC News Online|date=11 May 2012}}

Fulford received the UK Government's nomination, and was subsequently elected in 2003 to serve, as one of 18 judges of the International Criminal Court for a term of nine years, and was assigned to the Trial Division.{{cite web|publisher=International Criminal Court |url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/chambers/judges/Fulford_Adrian.html |title=Judge Sir Adrian Fulford |accessdate=23 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003655/http://www.icc-cpi.int/chambers/judges/Fulford_Adrian.html |archivedate=27 September 2007 }} He was sworn into office on 11 March 2003.{{cite web|url=http://www.genocidewatch.org/ICC18JudgesElected.htm|title=Genocide Watch: 18 Judges Elected to International Criminal Court|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030411091803/http://www.genocidewatch.org/ICC18JudgesElected.htm|archivedate=11 April 2003}} Fulford presided over the ICC's first trial, that of Thomas Lubanga,{{cite web|publisher=International Criminal Court |date=12 July 2007 |url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-06-934_English.pdf |title=Decision notifying the election of the Presiding Judge in the case against Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo |accessdate=23 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009234415/http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-06-934_English.pdf |archivedate=9 October 2007 }} and in that capacity delivered the court's first guilty verdict on 14 March 2012.{{cite web|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17364988|title=ICC finds Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty|date=14 March 2012}}

= Court of Appeal =

On 10 May 2013, Fulford was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal.{{London Gazette|issue=60505|page=9621 |date=15 May 2013}}

In March 2014, the Mail on Sunday printed allegations that Fulford had been a supporter of the Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE) in the 1970s. He denied the allegation.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26502420 Following this allegation, he stepped down from judging criminal cases and an official investigation by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office took place. The investigation, by Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, concluded on 18 June 2014 that the allegations against Fulford were "without substance" and he "was not and had never been a supporter of PIE or its aims". Following his exoneration, Fulford resumed sitting as a judge on the full range of appeals.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Fulford was appointed as the Deputy Senior Presiding Judge on 1 January 2015, and was promoted to Senior Presiding Judge on 1 January 2016 succeeding Peter Gross. On 31 March 2017, Fulford stood down from this position, to accept appointment as the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner in which role he will be supported by fifteen senior judges appointed under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/announcements/appointment-of-the-new-senior-presiding-judge/|title = Appointment of the new Senior Presiding Judge}}

In 2021, he presided over the sentencing of Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, who pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard. Sentencing him at the Old Bailey to a whole-life tariff,{{Cite news|date=2021-09-30|title=Sarah Everard's killer sentenced live: Wayne Couzens's lawyer says he's 'full of self-loathing' as he appears in court for sentence|work=Sky News|url=https://news.sky.com/story/sarah-everards-killer-sentenced-live-wayne-couzens-to-learn-if-he-will-spend-the-rest-of-his-life-in-jail-12421024|access-date=2021-09-30}} Fulford described the case as "devastating, tragic and wholly brutal"{{Cite news|date=2021-09-30|title=Wayne Couzens Sentencing Remarks|work=Central Criminal Court|url=https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Wayne-Couzens-Sentencing-Remarks.pdf|access-date=2021-09-30}} and told Couzens he had eroded public confidence in the police.{{Cite news|date=2021-09-30|title=Sarah Everard murder: Wayne Couzens handed whole-life sentence|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58747614|access-date=2021-09-30}}

On 1 October 2022, Fulford retired as a Lord Justice of Appeal.{{Cite web |title=Court of Appeal: Retirement of Lord Justice Adrian Fulford |url=https://www.judiciary.uk/appointments-and-retirements/court-of-appeal-retirement-of-lord-justice-adrian-fulford/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Courts and Tribunals Judiciary |date=October 2022 |language=en-US}}

Honours

He was appointed as a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1994.{{cn|date=April 2025}}
He was Knighted as a Knight Bachelor on 16 December 2002. The award was Gazetted on 11 March 2003.{{London Gazette|issue=56873|supp=y|page=1014|date=11 March 2003}}
He was sworn in as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in 2013. This allows him the Honorific Title "The Right Honourable" for Life.{{cn|date=April 2025}}
He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) by the University of Southampton in 2011.{{cite web |title=Our honorary graduates |url=https://www.southampton.ac.uk/about/our-people/honorary.page |website=University of Southampton |access-date=2 October 2021 |language=en}}