His Honour Sir Peter Thornton KC was a practising barrister in human rights law, a QC (now KC), founder member and head of Doughty Street Chambers, a Senior Circuit Judge at the Old Bailey (the Central Criminal Court) and the first Chief Coroner of England and Wales.

He is now a Visiting Professor at King's College London, a member of the Independent Expert Panel of the House of Commons, chair of the University College London Discipline Review Body, and international trainer of coroners with the Civil Service College and the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association. He has written and edited numerous published works, and broadcasts regularly on civil liberty issues and criminal law and coroner law on programmes such as Newsnight, The Today Programme on Radio 4 and Rough Justice.