'GRIPPING' - THE TIMES
'FASCINATING, NO-HOLDS-BARRED' - THE SECRET BARRISTER
How can you speak up for someone accused of a savage murder? Or sway a jury? Or get a judge to drop a case?
William Clegg QC is a leading criminal lawyer in London. In this vivid memoir, he revisits his most notorious and intriguing trials, from the acquittal of Colin Stagg to the murder of Jill Dando, to the man given life because of an earprint and the first Nazi war crimes prosecution in the UK.
All the while he lays bare the secrets of his profession, from the rivalry among barristers to the nervous moments before a verdict comes back - and how our right to a fair trial is now at risk.
Under the Wig is for anyone who wants to know the reality of a murder trial. It's an intelligent crime read for fans of The Secret Barrister's books and Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd.
Well-known cases featured:
Murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common
Chillenden Murders of Dr Lin and Megan Russell
Lee Clegg, when Labour leader Keir Starmer was his junior
Murder of Jill Dando
First Nazi war crimes prosecution in the UK
Murder of Joanna Yeates
Rebekah Brooks Phone Hacking Trial
Under the Wig : A Lawyer's Stories of Murder, Guilt and Innocence
Description
Table of Contents
Introduction: How can you defend a man like that?
Case 1: The Wimbledon Common Murder
Perry Mason and the Art of Advocacy
Case 2: The Murder of Samantha Bisset
Ronnie Trott, pupil master
Case 3: The Chillenden Murders
Learning how to fight a case
Case 4: Helen Hodgson
Mutiny at 3 Hare Court
Case 5: Waking the Dead in Belarus
How to Become a QC
Case 6: Andrusha the Bastard
Defending Fraudsters
Case 7: Convicted by Earprint
Winning the Trust of a Judge
Case 8: Private Clegg and the Joyriders (when Labour leader Keir Starmer was his junior)
How to Appeal to a Jury
Case 9: A Murder Without a Body?
21st Century Set
Case 10: War Crimes in the Balkans
Inside Chambers: Rivalry and Camaraderie
Case 11: The Murder of Jill Dando
Bribery and Corruption
Case 12: A Ghetto Shoot-out in Jamaica
Trying Times for Legal Aid
Case 13: The Murder of Joanna Yeates
Private Clients
Case 14: The Phone Hacking Trial
Afterword: A Life of Crime
Acknowledgements
Index
Author Description
As London's leading murder case lawyer, William Clegg represented clients at some of the best-known criminal trials in English legal history.
In all during 47 years as a leading advocate, he fought more than 100 murder cases, more than any other barrister currently practising in Britain.
His cases ranged from serial killers to alleged Nazi war criminals to ordinary members of the public innocently caught up in police investigations. They include:
the Wimbledon Common Murder of Rachel Nickell
the Chillenden Murders (Dr Lin and Megan Russell)
the Earprint Murder
the Murder of Jill Dando
Private Lee Clegg (Northern Ireland)
the Murder of Joanna Yeates
Nazi War Crimes in Britain
Rebekah Brooks's Phone Hacking Trial
and International War Crimes Tribunal (Yugoslavia)
When Clegg represented paratrooper Lee Clegg in Belfast, his junior in the long-running appeal case was Keir Starmer, future leader of the Labour Party.
A Queen's Counsel (now King's Counsel), Clegg capped his long-running career at the Bar as head of chambers at 2 Bedford Row in London. He is now retired and lives in Sussex.