The Chair

Tom Crowther QC

Tom is a barrister and former judge. He qualified in 1993 and became a QC in 2013. He has extensive experience of child sexual abuse cases and was appointed to the CPS rape list on its inception. His practice until 2013 was dominated by heavy criminal prosecutions for the complex casework and organised crime divisions of the CPS (including historic child sexual abuse cases and people trafficking) and he also maintained a significant regulatory practice in agricultural and environmental, health and safety, and consumer protection work for the Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales, the Environment Agency, and local authorities. Tom was on the Attorney General’s List of Counsel and was a member of the Welsh Government’s Panel of Counsel.

Tom was an immigration judge from 2006-13 then a circuit judge from 2013-18. In that role his docket of cases was dominated by serious sexual offences including child sexual exploitation cases. He also tried cases involving misconduct by medical staff and police officers. In 2016 he was appointed a trainer at the Judicial College for the trial of serious sexual offences and for long and complex cases. He has been a guest speaker at CIVIPOL’s seminars for judges (to Court of Appeal level) and prosecutors from ten countries in the Greater Horn of Africa. He chaired multi-agency committees dealing with judicial governance and with the implementation of video-recorded cross-examination for sexual offences.

Tom has twice served terms as an elected member of the Bar Council and is a member of Cardiff University School of Psychology’s Research Ethics Committee. He is an associate judge of the Sovereign Bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia and is a member of Serjeants’ Inn Chambers in London.