Ronald Waterhouse (judge)

Sir Ronald Gough Waterhouse, GBE (8 May 1926 – 8 May 2011)^[1] was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales between 1978 and 1996. As a judge his highest profile case was when he presided over the acquittal of comedian Ken Dodd on charges of tax evasion. Immediately upon his retirement he led a three-year inquiry into the North Wales child abuse scandal, which reported in 2000.^[2]

Life and career

Ronald Gough Waterhouse was born in

called to the bar in 1952.^[3]

He established a

Queen’s Bench Division where he presided over Ken Dodd's trial in 1989.^[3]

After his retirement in 1996, he was appointed to chair the

Tribunal of Inquiry established by the Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague, into allegations of hundreds of cases of child abuse in care homes in Clwyd and Gwynedd between 1974 and 1990. The inquiry began in January 1997 and sat for 203 days, hearing evidence from more than 650 people.^[4] Waterhouse kept handwritten notes throughout the trial, ensuring that they were summarised in his report. His final report ran to more than a thousand pages, and was published in February 2000, as Lost in Care.^[3] It proposed a series of radical changes to the ways in which the needs of children in care were addressed;^[5] all of its 72 recommendations were implemented.^[3] However, the Inquiry was later criticised for the narrowness of its remit, which meant that claims of abuse by politicians and others outside the care home system, which were raised by some participants, were not considered. In view of the concerns raised, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced on 6 November 2012 that Mrs Justice Julia Macur would head a review into the "scope and conduct" of the Waterhouse Inquiry in the light of claims that it examined only a fraction of the abuse that went on.^[6]

Waterhouse was also president of the

International Eisteddfod at Llangollen from 1994 to 1997, and between 2000 and 2005 chaired the Independent Supervisory Authority on Hunting.^[3]

Ron continued his support for promoting the rights of children in care and became Patron of Welsh children's charity Voices From Care.

His memoir "Child of Another Century: Recollections of a High Court Judge" was published by IB Tauris in 2013.