Robin Simpson KC, a devoted member of the Middle Temple for over seventy years, died peacefully on Monday, 10 November 2025, surrounded by his family. He was aged 98, narrowly missing out on a ‘ton’, as he liked to call it.
He was a giant of the criminal Bar, and a member of the ‘quartet’ of pre-eminent criminal advocates who practiced from his chambers in the 1970s and 1980s: David Tudor Price (Common Serjeant and High Court Judge), Richard Du Cann QC (Chairman of the Bar) and Kenneth Richardson QC (First Senior Treasury Counsel). He was Called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1951 and obtained a tenancy at the fashionable QEB chambers, which later moved to 3 Raymond Buildings.
Robin was a supreme advocate, whether it be before a jury or a bench of licensing justices. His genius lay in his incorrigible sense of humour and in his acute judgement of people. He gauged judges, juries, justices and witnesses with an uncanny emotional quotient that enabled him to turn seemingly intractable positions to the advantage of his clients. His appetite for mischief was boundless. His practice spanned the criminal and licensing courts and committees for over forty years. He appeared in the obscenity trials of the 1960s and in cases involving everything from bingo halls, betting offices and bars to murder and armed robbery throughout the 70s, 80s and into the 90s.
After taking silk in 1975, he represented the only defendant to plead guilty in the Playland vice trial in 1975 and, in 1977, he defended one of the six members of Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad convicted of having helped the Soho porn trade to flourish by their systematic acceptance of bribes, receiving corrupt payments from pornography dealers of more than £36,000 between 1965 and 1972.
In 1981, Robin represented Terry Sinclair, the principal defendant in the ‘handless torso’ case, then one of the longest and costliest trials in English legal history. The trial was conducted at the historic Lancaster Castle, and the trial judge was the legendary QC and High Court Judge Dame Rose Heilbron and took six and a half months. That year he also appeared with Howard Godfrey as his junior in the seminal case of Galbraith, in which the Lord Chief Justice Geoffrey Lane provided the principles to be applied in a submission of no case to answer in a criminal trial, which are still in use today.
Robin was much loved in chambers and extremely popular with barristers, solicitors and court staff. He was known to have said that nothing is ever too serious that you cannot have a little bit of mischief with it, but that was only possible because of his innate ability to charm. He was famous for the nicknames he would attach to fellow members of the Bar. He referred to his good friend and the famously austere Dick Du Cann as ‘Robespierre’; to the eminent Victor Durand as ‘Trader’; to Jeremy Hutchinson as (for obvious reason) ‘Starsky’ and to Sir Richard Beckett KC and Sir John Nutting KC, respectively, as ‘Rigor Mortis’ and ‘Nutmeg’.
He took over as Head of Chambers, succeeding Victor Durand QC and remained so until his retirement in 1992. Thereafter for many years he continued to educate and inspire following generations with his dedicated work as an advocacy trainer, both in his chambers and the Inn.
Robin was a Recorder of the Crown Court from 1976 until 1986. He also delighted in acting as an appeal steward of the British Boxing Board of Control. He was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club for decades and President of the Bar Real Tennis Club. He was devoted to real tennis and played until he was 92 years old.
Robin leaves his children Charles, Anna, Kate and Hugo, nine grandchildren, and many friends and colleagues who remember him with affection and gratitude. His long life of service to the law, to his chambers and to the Inn leaves a lasting legacy, and he will be greatly missed.
Obituary kindly written by Master Robin Simpson’s family.
