Gerald Howard Sir Stephen Gerald Howard , KC ( 7 June 1896 – 25 June 1973 ) was a British farmer , barrister and judge who was an active National Liberal and later Conservative Party politician . He had a junior role on the prosecution team in several celebrated trials in the immediate post - war era . First World War . Howard was the son of Stephen Goodwin Howard , who was Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Sudbury between 1918 and 1922 . He was sent to Harrow School , but interrupted his education in 1916 to join the Royal Flying Corps . He became a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force on its formation in 1918 . Later that year he left the RAF to go Balliol College , Oxford where he studied law . Criminal law barrister . Following his father ' s political affiliations , Howard was a candidate at the 1922 general election for Eye in Suffolk as a National Liberal with Conservative Party support . In 1924 , Howard was called to the Bar by Lincoln ' s Inn . He became a criminal law barrister , generally appearing as a junior for the prosecution ; he also remained very attached to East Anglia where he farmed on the family estate . While appearing not to have any personal interest in the way the case turned out , he was a skillful advocate and appeared in many high - profile cases . In November 1936 he was appointed to be third junior counsel for the crown ( a crown prosecutor ) at the Old Bailey ( Central Criminal Court ) . In December 1942 he was elected a Bencher of Lincoln ' s Inn . Prominent trials . Howard was appointed Recorder of Bury St Edmunds ( a part - time judicial post ) in 1943 . He was adopted as Conservative Party candidate for Cambridgeshire in November 1944 , but unexpectedly lost the seat in the 1945 general election by 44 votes . Earlier that year , Howard had prosecuted in the " Cleft chin murder trial " . Howard was High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire for the year 1945 to 1946 , and became a senior Prosecuting Counsel at the end of the year . He was also Recorder of Ipswich from 1947 and Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Cambridgeshire from 1947 . The period between 1945 and 1950 saw Howard ' s most prominent cases . The week after the election he prosecuted John Amery for treason , and he was also third prosecution counsel at the trial of William Joyce ( ' Lord Haw Haw ' ) with Attorney General Sir Hartley Shawcross and Laurence Byrne . He prosecuted other treason trials arising out of the war . He was on the prosecution team for Thomas Ley and Lawrence Smith ( the " Chalkpit murder " ) in 1947 , and in 1949 he took part in the trial of John George Haigh , the " Acid Bath murderer " . Parliamentary career . At the 1950 general election , Howard was elected for Cambridgeshire , regaining the seat from Labour . He was made a King ' s Counsel on election and remained in practice as a prosecutor . In Parliament he remained loyal to the Conservative whip , and in 1952 successfully defended " The Times " against a charge arising out of advertisements issued during the 1951 general election criticising nationalisation . In 1952 he became Chairman of Quarter Sessions for East and West Suffolk and in 1958 he was made Recorder of Southend . Judgeship . In January 1961 , Howard ' s name headed a list of new Judges of the High Court of Justice , on the Queen ' s Bench Division , which vacated his seat in Parliament . He received a Knighthood with the appointment , as was traditional . Howard was on the Judicial Bench for ten years before retiring .