Sir Keir Starmer is under renewed fire today after more lurid details about his work as a lawyer emerged.
The Labour leader has been accused of working for free to defend violent killers dodge the death penalty.
Sir Keir has often boasted about his work defending people around the world from the death penalty, including once bragging that he received his knighthood for a 20-year litigation strategy… to get rid of the death penalty.
This morning The Sun revealed that his work, unrelated to his domestic job, saw sick criminals receive reduced sentences or even walk free from prison.
One individual defended by the Labour leader was Jamaican Lambert Watson, who murdered his girlfriend and their nine-month-old baby by stabbing them in the neck.
Another was Malawian killer Francis Kafantayeni, who tied up and buried alive his two-year-old stepson.
A Ugandan axe killer who killed his girlfriend in front of her children was also defended by Sir Keir and was spared execution thanks to a change in the law championed by the Labour leader.
His interventions happened between 2002 and 2014, during his time as a lawyer, Director of Public Prosecutions, and his attempts to become a Labour candidate.
In 2004 Sir Keir appeared before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as part of a legal bid to abolish the mandatory death penalty for murder in Jamaica.
The appeal by Lambert Watson, who killed his nine-month-old baby, was upheld by the Council.
Sir Keir’s work in Uganda, where he met “all the men and women on death row” also helped result in the country’s top court scrapping laws requiring judges to hand down the death penalty to anyone convicted of murder.
The move spared 417 criminals.
A blogpost by Sir Keir for the Death Penalty Project also revealed he sat with violent felons on death row, while “they sang, they talked and they laughed”.
Despite arguments from defenders of Sir Keir, some have argued voters have a right to know the details of legal cases boasted about by the Labour leader.
Barrister Steven Barrett said: “I have, and will, always defended barristers operating under the cab rank rule – or just doing their job. This is neither.
“These are political choices Sir Keir made, as part of a private political campaign
“People have every right to know that and to judge as they choose.”
A Labour spokesman said: “Given the number of miscarriages of justice there have been, Keir Starmer does not support the death penalty.”
