BARBARA MILLS QC

Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Barbara Mills took up her current post in April 1992 after heading the Serious Fraud Office for 18 months. Prior to this position, she will be remembered as a barrister in private practice who specialised in criminal trials with a particular emphasis on commercial criminal law.

Barbara Mills was called to the Bar in 1963. She became Prosecuting Counsel to the Inland Revenue in 1977 and moved on to become Junior Treasury Counsel at the Central Criminal Court in 1981. She also served as a DTI Inspector.

She prosecuted Michael Fagan, who famously "dropped in on the Queen for a chat". She defended Winston Silcott, charged with the murder of PC Keith Blakelock at Broadwater Farm. She was also the main prosecutor in the Guinness trial.

In 1982 Barbara Mills became a Recorder of the Crown Court and she took silk in 1986, becoming a bencher of the Middle Temple in 1990.

Throughout her career, Barbara Mills has pursued other interests. She has been a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, a Legal Assessor to the General Medical Council and also to the General Dental Council. In 1990 she was a member of the Parole Board. She has also served as a member of the General Advisory Council of the BBC.

Barbara Mills is married with three daughters and a son. She was educated at St.Helen's School, Northwood from where she took a scholarship to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. In 1991, she became an honorary fellow of her former college. She has also been made an Honorary Doctor of Laws at the universities of Hull and Nottingham Trent. She is a Companion of Honour of the Institute of Management.


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