Thomas Thorp

Sir Thomas Murray Thorp KNZM (born 1925) is a retired New Zealand judge.

Professional career

From 1963 to 1979, he was the Crown Solicitor in Gisborne. He sat as a judge in the High Court of New Zealand from 1979 until 1996, the year he was knighted.

He has served as chairman of the National Parole Board and has sat as a member of the Court of Appeal.

Honours

In the 1997 New Year Honours Thorp was appointed as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.^[1]

Post retirement

Since retiring as a judge, he has written reports into some controversial matters.

In 1997 he reviewed New Zealand's gun control measures, and recommended that all firearms be registered. He has also written a report into the David Bain case in which he said he was satisfied with the trial verdict.

In 1999 he wrote a report into the Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis case. Thorp expressed misgivings with aspects of the case. He could find no corroboration of the children's claims of sexual abuse. He said that section 23G of the Evidence Act should be repealed because it allowed an expert to say that there was no behaviour inconsistent with sexual abuse. His report recommended that the Justice Ministry obtain the opinion of Stephen J. Ceci with regard to the children's evidence. The Ministry has ignored this and other recommendations from Thorp's report. His report contrasts with that written by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum, which upheld Ellis's conviction.

In 2005 he published a book entitled Miscarriages of Justice. He researched 53 applications for the Royal Prerogative of Mercy and found that at least 20 applicants may have been wrongly imprisoned.

He lives in Parnell, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand.

References

• Sir Thomas Thorp, Opinion for The Secretary for Justice re Petitions for the Exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy by Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis, Auckland, March 1999
• See http://www.peterellis.org.nz/docs/1999/Thorp/index.htm