The legal complexities of exhumation, the hanging of the Manchester Martyrs in 1867 and the crimes of serial killer Dr Harold Shipman provided much of the material for the 2014 Caroline Weatherill Memorial Lecture given by the Isle of Man Judge of Appeal, Geoffrey Tattersall QC.
His Honour first paid tribute to Caroline Weatherill who tragically died at an early age in 2006, leaving husband Lawrence, a practising advocate, and four children, describing her as ‘a very doughty advocate’ who had enjoyed the respect of her clients and colleagues.
The audience at the Manx Museum then heard His Honour, a self-confessed ‘serial collector of part-time jobs’ draw on his wealth of experience in ecclesiastical law, personal injury and clinical negligence and as Chancellor of the Dioceses of Manchester and Carlisle to deliver a talk he had titled ‘A litany of exhumations’.
Coffins unearthed in Cumbria through flooding, a skeleton in a Bolton cellar, riots at HM Prison Manchester (Strangeways), the public hanging of the Manchester Martyrs and his involvement in the four-year Harold Shipman enquiry made for an insightful and absorbing lecture.
His Honour closed by saying how much he enjoyed his visits to the Isle of Man. It was, however, an enjoyment tempered with some reservations. ‘I’m not keen on fairies, cats and motorbikes, though,’ he said.
The evening concluded with a vote of thanks from Isle of Man Law Society President Kevin O’Riordan who presented His Honour with a set of cufflinks of a design specially commissioned by the Society and given in appreciation to each Caroline Weatherill Memorial Lecture male speaker.
The Caroline Weatherill Memorial Lecture was organised by the Isle of Man Law Society and generously sponsored by Conister Bank and advocates’ practices Appleby (Isle of Man) LLC and Cains.
Photo - Geoffrey Tattersall QC centre with, left to right, Isle of Man Law Society president Kevin O’Riordan, Douglas Grant of Conister Bank, Seth Caine of Cains and Simon Harding of Appleby. Picture Andrew Barton.
