David Poole (judge)

Sir David Anthony Poole (8 June 1938 – 18 June 2006) was an English barrister and High Court judge. He is perhaps best known for representing Eric Cantona on charges of a "flying kick" assault of an opposition spectator in 1995.

Life and career

Poole was educated at

Blue), London Irish, the Bar and the Northern Circuit

.

As a barrister, he took on a mix of criminal and civil cases. He was appointed a

Queen's Counsel in 1984, after which he concentrated mostly on criminal work, mainly for the prosecution. As a lawyer for the defence, his scientific background enabled him to be at the forefront of early challenges to DNA

evidence.

In March 1995, Poole was instructed to represent by

Manchester United star footballer Eric Cantona when Cantona was charged with assault on an opposition supporter. Playing against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in a Premier League match, Cantona was taunted by a spectator, Matthew Simmons. Enraged, Cantona launched a flying kick at Simmons. Brought before Croydon Magistrates' Court, Cantona was sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment, but then given bail pending an appeal and finally served 120 hours of community service

.

Poole was a

paedophile Sidney Cooke in 1999, and the murderer John Paul Allan

in 2003.

As a result of adverse press coverage, he halted the first trial of

Leeds United players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate, and two friends, on 11 April 2001. The defendants were charged with affray and grievous bodily harm after an Asian student, Safraz Najeib, was assaulted in Leeds city centre. Poole held that an article in the Sunday Mirror created a "substantial risk" of prejudice to the trial; its editor, Colin Myler

, resigned three days later.

At a retrial later that year, Woodgate was convicted and sentenced to community service, but Bowyer was acquitted. Poole never retired, continuing to work until shortly before his death in June 2006.

Affiliations

Poole chaired the

honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford

, in 1997.

Death

Poole died in 2006, aged 68, of undisclosed causes, survived by his wife, the former Pauline O'Flaherty, and their four sons William, Alex, Gareth and Simon.

References

Obituary, The Times, 14 August 2006
Obituary, Jesus College Record 2006 (Andrew Seth)

External links

The Leeds United Trial