Christopher Rose (judge)
Sir Christopher Rose is a former judge on the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He became Vice-President of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal in 1997. In 2002 he was Treasurer of Middle Temple Inn. On 24 April 2006 he retired, and soon afterwards he was appointed Chief Surveillance Commissioner, a post which he held until 2015.
During his time on the Court of Appeal he was an outspoken critic of recent legislation, in particular the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which he criticised as being poorly drafted, saying: "If a history of criminal legislation ever comes to be written it is unlikely that 2003 will be identified as a year of exemplary skill in the annals of Parliamentary drafting."
In 1957 he obtained a degree in law from the University of Leeds. He went on to do his BCL at Wadham College, Oxford, where he has acted as an Honorary Fellow since 1993.
In 2009 he said the Civil Nuclear Constabulary's "approach to covert activity is conspicuously professional'. He found that the system for storing the intelligence gained from informers was 'working well' and that "senior officers regard covert surveillance as a long-term requirement".
