Lawyer in the News

Who? John Howe, 39-year old founding partner of four-partner Leeds-based general practice John Howe & Co.

Why is he in the news? Represents the family of Kevin Speight, one of the two Leeds United football fans stabbed to death two years ago the night before Leeds played a Uefa Cup semi-final against Galatasaray in Istanbul.

Last week, Ali Umit Demir was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail for the murder of Mr Speight and fellow fan Christopher Loftus.

Four other Turkish men were each jailed for three months and 22 days for their involvement.

Background: LLB at Newcastle University 1981-84, followed by Law Society finals at Leeds University in 1985.

He qualified with Leeds firm John Delaney & Co in 1988, before moving to David Yablon in Bradford.

After a year there, he moved to Carter Goldborough in Bradford, leaving in 1991 to the Lister Croft Partnership in Leeds.

He set up his own firm in 1994.

Route to the case: 'I had acted for Mr Speight for a few years before his death, and so I've continued to act for his family.'

Thoughts on the case: 'In Turkish law, the relatives of the victims have a say in the legal proceedings, so we've tried to stay as involved as possible via our agent in Turkey.

At the moment, not only is the defence appealing, but the prosecution is also appealing against the lightness of the sentence - however, all we want is to get the legal proceedings over with so we can have the inquest on Kevin's body carried out [it was delayed until after the trial so as not to interfere with the legal proceedings].

There are a number of conflicting stories about what happened that night - such as who was provoking whom - and all the family want is to get answers about what actually went on.

They hope the inquest will do that.'

Dealing with the media: 'Kevin's widow Susan found out about his death when a reporter knocked on her door and asked for her reaction.

Ever since then, we've tried to act as a buffer between the family and the media, and in general I've found it quite painless.

I've had some previous experience; for example before Christmas I made the national papers handling the quickest divorce on record - five days.'

Victoria MacCallum