Harry Ognall

Sir Harry Henry Ognall, DL (9 January 1934 – 13 April 2021[1][2]) was an English High Court judge, barrister and author.

Family and early life

Ognall was born in Salford[3] into a middle-class Jewish family, and grew up in Leeds. Ognall's father was journalist and crime author Leopold Horace Ognall, known by the pen name Hartley Howard. He was named Harry Henry after his grandfather, who had died one month before he was born. His father was born in Canada but grew up in Glasgow, where his grandfather served as mayor of Rutherglen.[4] His great-grandparents, Lazarus Ognall and Rachael Rosenstein, were Russian Jews who emigrated to Glasgow.[5]

He was educated at Leeds Grammar School. In 1953, Ognall went to Lincoln College, Oxford to read law,[4] and attended the University of Virginia School of Law on scholarship.[6]

Career

Ognall was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1958 and took silk in 1973. He was a recorder from 1972–86, when he was appointed to the High Court.[7]

Ognall is best known for his prosecution of Peter Sutcliffe, dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, for 13 murders in the 1970s and 1980s. As Queen's Counsel for the Crown's prosecution of Sutcliffe, Ognall was strongly opposed to Sutcliffe's defence strategy of claiming mental illness, which the Crown's psychiatric experts had been prepared to support.[8]

As a judge, he presided over the first trial for the murder of Rachel Nickell,[9] in which he ruled that the police had shown "excessive zeal” and had tried to incriminate Stagg by “deceptive conduct of the grossest kind".[10][11]

Ognall also presided over the Lyme Bay kayaking tragedy trial; and the trial of Nigel Cox, the first doctor brought to trial in the UK for practising euthanasia.[12]

He was knighted in March 1986.[13] He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire in August 2000.[14]

Personal life

In 1977, Sir Harry married Elizabeth Young in Bradford.[15] They had five children and eight grandchildren. He resided in the Yorkshire Dales.[6]

Ognall was portrayed by actor Simon Kunz in 2021 miniseries Deceit, which retold the story of Operation Edzell following the murder of Rachel Nickell.[16]

Bibliography
  • Ognall, Sir Harry (2017). A Life of Crime: The Memoirs of a High Court Judge. William Collins. ISBN 978-0008267469.

References
  1. UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878–1960
  2. "Sir Harry Ognall: A Tribute: Someone Proud to be Described as 'A Gorilla from the North'". 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  3. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
  4. Ognall, Sir Harry (2017). A Life of Crime: The Memoirs of a High Court Judge. William Collins. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-0008267469.
  5. Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1946
  6. "Harry Ognall". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  7. "No. 50402". The London Gazette. 16 January 1986. p. 685.
  8. "Trials of bringing the Ripper to justice". The Yorkshire Post. 22 May 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  9. Ebisike, Norbert (2008). Offender Profiling in the Courtroom: The Use and Abuse of Expert Witness Testimony. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 16. ISBN 9780313362101. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  10. Real Crime (27 June 2001). "Real Crime: The Rachel Nickell Story" (TV Documentary). ITV.
  11. "the murder of rachel nickell, the mirror". crime + investigation.
  12. Magnusson, Roger S.; Ballis, Peter Harry (2002). Angels of Death: Exploring the Euthanasia Underground. Yale University Press. p. 25. ISBN 0300094396. Retrieved 3 July 2018. doctor euthanasia Harry Ognall.
  13. "No. 50467". The London Gazette. 21 March 1986. p. 4067.
  14. "No. 55933". The London Gazette. 4 August 2000. p. 8619.
  15. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916–2005
  16. "MDX Performing Arts alumna scripts and produces searing Rachel Nickell case drama, Deceit". Middlesex University. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
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