Courtenay Griffiths


Courtenay Delsdue McVay Griffiths KC was a Jamaican-born British barrister, who defended in some high-profile cases. He was a member of Wyeth Thomas Chambers. Called to the bar in 1980, Griffiths was among the first black lawyers to take silk, being made then-Queen's Counsel in 1998.

Early life

Born in Kingston, Jamaica on 10 October 1955, the second youngest child of a carpenter father, Griffiths moved to England with his family in 1961 and was raised in Coventry. Educated at Bablake School, he graduated in 1979 with an LLB from the London School of Economics.

Career

Griffiths pursued a law career after his father told him stories about Norman Manley QC, the first Prime Minister of Jamaica. Griffiths was called to the bar in 1980.
He was a Legal Assistant to the Greater London Council's Police Support Committee, and also spent 12 months as a Revson Fellow at City College, New York. On return to the UK he practised mainly in West Yorkshire, in the Leeds and Bradford courts. He was made King's Counsel in 1998.
In later years, he practised predominantly in criminal defence, including murder cases, fraud and drug offences. He practised from 25 Bedford Row Chambers. Griffiths sat part-time in the Crown Court as a Recorder, chaired the Public Affairs Committee of the Bar Council, and worked for several years as chair of its Race Relations Committee.
Griffiths held honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Coventry University and Leeds Metropolitan University. In 2008, he gave the annual Norman Manley Lecture at the Norman Manley Law School, University of the West Indies, which aims to highlight issues of national and international public concern.
On 16 March 2021, while representing Claudia Webbe, Griffiths was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Notable cases

Griffiths was married to Angela, and had one daughter and three sons. He collected music, supported Liverpool F.C. and the West Indies Cricket Team, and was a trustee of the Bernie Grant Trust.
Griffiths died from a stroke on 23 June 2025, at the age of 69.