Jonathan Swift (judge)

Sir Jonathan Mark Swift (born 11 September 1964)[1] is a British High Court judge.

The Honourable
Mr Justice Swift
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
Justice of the High Court
Assumed office
1 October 2018
MonarchCharles III
Personal details
Born (1964-09-11) 11 September 1964
Rochford, England
Alma materEmmanuel College, Cambridge
New College, Oxford

Swift was born in Rochford, England and was educated at Southend High School for Boys. He studied at New College, Oxford and completed a BA in 1987. He followed this with an LLM at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1988.[1]

He was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1989 and practised from 11 King's Bench Walk.[2] He was First Treasury Counsel from 2007 to 2014 and took silk in 2010. He served as a recorder from 2010 to 2018 and was appointed deputy High Court judge in 2016.[1]

On 1 October 2018, Swift was appointed a judge of the High Court and assigned to the Queen's Bench Division.[3] He took the customary knighthood in the same year. Since 2020, he has been judge in charge of the Administrative Court.[4][1]

In 2008, he married Helen Evans with whom he has a son and a daughter.[1]

On 10 June 2022, he ruled deportation flights of unsuccessful asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda should be allowed to proceed as there was material public interest in doing so.[5] He further said that the risks posed to refugees was "in the realms of speculation".[6]

On 8 June 2023, he rejected the appeal of political prisoner Julian Assange's legal team, which had filed two appeals against the court and Priti Patel's decision to extradite the award-winning Wikileaks founder being indicted by the United States under the Espionage Act for exposing war crimes to the general public.[7]

References
  1. "Swift, Hon. Sir Jonathan (Mark), (born 11 Sept. 1964)". Who's Who (UK). 1 December 2020. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u251045. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  2. "Jonathan Swift QC elevated to the High Court Bench". 11KBW. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  3. "Senior Judiciary". Judiciary UK. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  4. "Judge in Charge of the Administrative Court". Judiciary UK. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  5. "UK judge refuses injunction against Rwanda deportation flights". Financial Times. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  6. "UK deportation flight to Rwanda can go ahead, high court judge rules". the Guardian. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  7. "WISE Up Action - A Solidarity Network for Manning and Assange". WISE Up Action - A Solidarity Network for Manning and Assange. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
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