Courtenay Griffiths: the QC defending Charles Taylor

In June 2007 Courtenay Griffiths, QC, was at Heathrow preparing to board a flight for Jamaica when his mobile phone rang. Moments later he was no longer dreaming of warm water and shimmering sands but planning the defence of one of the world’s most reviled warlords.

Griffiths, one of London’s leading criminal barristers, is no stranger to controversial clients. As a junior lawyer in the 1980s he defended IRA members who were accused of involvement in the Harrods and Brighton bombings. In 2002 he acted for one of the youths acquitted in the first trial relating to the death of Damilola Taylor.

Griffiths was born in Jamaica, one of nine children, and moved to Britain with his family, at the age of 5, spending much of his childhood in Coventry. He studied law at the London School of Economics, was called to the Bar in 1980 and went on to become one of the few black barristers to have attained the rank of Queen’s Counsel.

He told The Times that he had no hesitation defending a client accused of crimes against humanity. “I have no moral commitment to Charles Taylor but I do believe he is entitled to the best-quality defence available. I will ensure that he gets it,” he said.

Defendants must be given a fair trial if international law was to have any credibility, he said, and accused prosecutors in such cases of exhibiting too much evangelical zeal. “To date the prosecution in these cases has had an unfair advantage and I’m not happy with that. Both sides should be properly equipped.”