David Croom-Johnson

Sir David Powell Croom-Johnson, DSC, VRD (28 November 1914 – 21 November 2000) was a British barrister and judge who served as a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1984 to 1989.

Biography Born in Cheam, Surrey, Croom-Johnson was the son of politician and High Court judge Sir Reginald Croom-Johnson. He was educated at The Hall School, Hampstead, Stowe School, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he read English and law. He was called to the bar by Gray's Inn in 1938. Having joined the chambers of Montague Berryman KC at 12 King's Bench Walk, he practised common law on the Western Circuit. He presided over several high-profile criminal trials. In 1977 he presided over the trial of the IRA leader Vincent Donnelly for carrying out the West Ham station attack. In 1982 he presided over the trial of the Soviet spy Hugh Hambleton. In 1983 he presided over the trials of the police officers who shot Stephen Waldorf, and the serial killer Dennis Nilsen. and was sworn of the Privy Council. He retired from the bench in 1989.

Personal life Croom-Johnson married Barbara Douglas Warren in 1940; they had one daughter.

In popular culture Croom-Johnson was portrayed by Ken Bones in Des, a 2020 docudrama focusing on Dennis Nilsen.