Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey - The instant Sunday Times bestseller

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UNLAWFUL KILLINGS reads like a really terrific novel. It is riveting, thought-provoking, and very, very entertaining. I loved it.' -- Roddy Doyle Elias Chacour Interviewed by Diarmaid MacCulloch A Palestinian Christian Working for Peace and Reconciliation in Israel CANCELLED Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event

Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the…

Bodleian Guides Literary Oxford with the Bodleian Weston Library Steps 1:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this eventOften as an author, I only occasionally get to meet the public who buy and read my books. The Oxford Literary Festival was a special opportunity for me and certainly one of the highlights of my career – it was an honour I will never forget. I really enjoyed this book. If ever I was on trial I would want my judge to be this one. She is compassionate, in control and understands the reality that exists outside the courtroom. Anyone who has worked in the Crown Court would recognise how true to life the court room scenes are. The fictional crime scenarios make compelling stories. What is unique is that they are placed in a wider context which challenges the assumptions that lie behind our criminal justice policy. A great read for those who want to understand how the system works now and why it is going wrong. -- Cherie Blair CBE QC I've been a fan of crime thrillers and detective novels for years. I love the thrill of the chase, working out 'whodunnit' and seeing the criminal being arrested and lead to the cells at the end. But what happens after that? In Unlawful Killings, Wendy Joseph takes the reader through six different murder trials that she has presided over as Judge and explains calmly, clearly and with great compassion what happened to the victims and what happens in a trial to the perpetrators of these terrible crimes. How does a jury get selected? What evidence will be presented, what is withheld? What guidance is provided when the jury go to deliberate their decision? All is revealed in this excellent book. I have been talking about this book pretty much non-stop since I read it! If anyone has any connections to the author and could ask her if she would come to my university to deliver a talk on criminal law to our students, I would be so grateful! I loved the whole atmosphere of the Oxford Literary Festival. From breakfast, alongside some of the attendees, who were talking books with each other a mile a minute, to the public event at The Sheldonian where everyone was lively and engaged – I felt I had arrived in a kind of literary heaven. Ever Obi, Ikenna Okeh and Ivan Sršen The Immigrant’s Story in Modern Fiction CANCELLED Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 10:00am Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event

Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old

Absolutely superb. 5 stars for sheer readability alone. Her Honour entertains as she educates us about murder, about the law and about how we human beings are shaped as we create the culture we live with.' PHILIPPA PERRY, author of THE BOOK YOU WISH YOUR PARENTS HAD READ Greta Scacchi Interviewed by Peter Guttridge An audience with Greta Scacchi Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this eventWendy’s career in the law forms a perfect and inspiring arc of achievement; a girl from Cardiff with a love of English Literature (which she read at Cambridge until changing to law in her final year) who, in 2012, became only the third ever full-time female judge at the Old Bailey, after Nina Lowry in the late 80s and 90s, and Anne Goddard QC in the late 90s and early 2000s. She lost her father while still at school and her mum was nervous that the Bar was a poor choice of career, given the imperative of ‘needing to earn a living’. Paterson Joseph Interviewed by Suzi Feay The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho Exeter College: Marquee 12:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event Jonathan Keates La Serenissima: The Story of Venice SOLD OUT Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event I don’t agree with many of the automatic reduction of sentences guidelines despite the mitigating factors but at least I now know why some sentences are appalling inadequate. Italian Dinner Celebrating the Programme of Italian Literature and Culture SOLD OUT Exeter College: Hall 7:15pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event

Former judge regrets not calling out sexual harassment - BBC

Until her March retirement Her Honour Wendy Joseph was one of the just 16 judges licensed to try murder cases at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales – better known as the Old Bailey – and the only woman. In Unlawful Killings: Life, Love & Murder she shares her rare insight from 15 years of presiding over numerous high-profile cases, having previously served as a criminal barrister for more than three decades. their intelligence – this makes a huge difference for a speaker. In the Oxford audience I encountered many experts in the field my book covered and even one of the ambassadors I’d quoted The fracture lines that run through our society are becoming harder and harder to ignore. From a unique vantage point, the author warns that we do so at our peril. Fascinating, propulsive and beautifully written, this is an extraordinary insight into the heart and mind of a judge as they witness the best and worst of humanity. I couldn't put it down. -- Sarah Langford, author of In Your Defence I had no idea that a ‘perverse verdict’ was even a thing, and I feel enlightened, reassured and even a little bit empowered to discover it exists, and the contexts - historical as explained and current as in one of the chapters - in which it has been used made me smile and sigh with relief. Sometimes the law is indeed an ass, and yet the power remains with us: Twelve people of this country, randomly drawn from its ranks, to return a verdict which they believe to be right.What really comes across in this book is how the facts of every case are different and so much more complex than the average newspaper summary can possibly get across and the initial facts aren’t the only things that will need to be taken into account when passing judgment or sentence. It gives a great insight into the dilemmas that cross the consciences of juries and judges every day and will really make the reader think what decision they would have come to when presented with that scenario, and how the people making those decisions weigh up all the factors. If you have never been involved in a jury trial, it might give you a better idea of what an enormous burden this can be and how hard it is for judges to make sentencing decisions.

Unlawful Killings - Penguin Books UK

It seems morally wrong as well as personally disturbing to say I loved a book with such a gruesome subject matter so, instead, I’ll say that it was absolutely fascinating and illuminating, even to someone who has studied criminal law. Written by former barrister and judge, Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC, from her perspective as a presiding judge in cases heard at the most famous criminal court in the world, the Old Bailey, it gives a revealing peek behind the curtain into a world that very few people ever get to see. Kathleen Wyatt Interviewed by Susannah Jowitt The Social Superpower: The Big Truth About Little Lies Exeter College: Marquee 6:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event I love it when people who’ve had long careers write these sort of books showing the variety of people they’ve encountered along the way. A contrast to younger writers who are trying to make it about them and their “platform”. Alexander Stoddart Interviewed by Gregory Platten Art and Christianity Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this eventI found this to be an informative read and highly interesting. The author gives us real insight into her role as a judge and takes the time to discuss aspects of the law that readers are unlikely to be familiar with. Joseph wrote an introduction and three trial stories, with the intention only of creating a short pamphlet, from which any proceeds would go to charity. In fact, when the book went out on submission, it attracted great interest and was pre-empted by Transworld in May last year, the acquisition announced as a book by a “judge writing anonymously” because serving judges are not allowed to have a personal profile or any other source of income. So now—it sounds so weird to say it—I suppose I’m a writer She described six very different unlawful killings cases to highlight the processes and vagaries of the law and sentencing guidelines.