Richard Rougier
Sir Richard George Rougier (12 February 1932 – 25 October 2007) was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales for 15 years. He was the son of the famous historical romance novelist Georgette Heyer.
Early years
Rougier was the only child of novelist Georgette Heyer and her husband, George Ronald Rougier CBE QC, a mining engineer who later became a barrister. His mother, a successful published author by the time of his birth, referred to Rougier as her "most notable (indeed peerless) work."[1] In 1939, his father was called to the Bar, and the family moved first to Brighton, then to Hove, so that Ronald Rougier could easily commute to London. The following year, Rougier was sent to prep school.[2] The Blitz made train travel uncertain at times, making it difficult for Rougier's father to commute. In 1942, the family moved to London.[3]
He was educated at
Career
He followed his father into the law, and was called to the Bar at
He was appointed as a High Court judge in 1986, in the
He presided at the trial of
In a civil case in 1991, he ruled that the family of
He presided at the murder trial of Jonathan Jones, accused of killing Harry and Megan Tooze, the parents of his girlfriend, at their farmhouse in
He also sat in the case of Revill v. Newbery in 1994, in which burglar Mark Revill sued pensioner Ted Newbery, the occupant of the shed that Revill was trying to break into. Rougier ordered Newbery to pay Revill £4,000 damages for the injuries he sustained when Newbery fired a shotgun blind, through the shed door.
He retired in 2002, but presided at an inquiry in 2005 into the deaths of 11 men at Kingsway Hospital in Derby. He retired to Somerset, where he enjoyed playing contract bridge, fly fishing and golf. He was also a member of the Garrick Club.
Family
In 1960, Rougier fell in love with the estranged wife of one of his acquaintances. He assisted the woman, Susanna Flint, in leaving her husband, and, after her divorce was final, the couple married.[4] Together they raised her two sons from her first marriage as well as their own son, Nicholas, born in 1966.[5]
They were divorced in 1996, and he remarried later that year, to Judy Williams. He died of lung cancer on 25 October 2007.