The nature of the Cooper twins? death stunned the Island, and the subsequent trial was one of the biggest in Bermuda?s legal history. One look at Courtenay Griffiths? hard-hitting CV, however, shows he was more than equipped to work on such a high-profile case.

His name is synonymous with dozens of huge trials in the UK ? many involving horrific terrorist attacks that claimed scores of lives. And he is used to operating in a whirlwind of publicity and in the full gaze of public scrutiny.

?More than 95 per cent of my work is homicide and a large proportion of that is gang-related,? he told ?The trials I do all tend to involve a lot of security issues and I?ve done a lot of terrorism work.?

In the 80s, when the Irish Republican Army was the main threat to UK security, he worked on several massive terrorism cases. Now the lawyer?s clients are changing as the post 9/11 threat shifts from Irish extremism towards Islamic fundamentalism.

A major terrorism trial later this year, representing a defendant with alleged links to al Qaeda and the September 11 attacks, is part of the QC?s demanding caseload in 2006.

Many people may wonder whether lawyers ever think twice about defending suspects who stand accused of crimes that claim so many innocent lives.

But the QC, an outspoken critic of American tactics in Guant?namo Bay and the US-led war in Iraq, says everybody has the right to a fair trial.

?I?ve always been interested in politics and human rights and it seems to me that even if a man is supposed to be a terrorist there?s no reason why he should be treated differently from any other suspect,? he stated.

?The quality of criminal justice that we provide is the mark of a civilised society. America wants to hold itself out as a beacon of liberty across the world and part of that image is the total disregard for the rule of law. What message is that sending out??

With the terror threat from Ireland now significantly reduced, he said many Asian communities in the UK were now being discriminated against in the wake of increased al Qaeda activity. ?They find themselves the focus of stop and search in the way that Afro Caribbean communities complained about thirty years ago.?

Mr. Griffiths, a part-time judge who has visited every UK Crown Court as part of a career spanning three decades, admitted his political stance was heavily influenced by his poor, working class upbringing.

Born in Jamaica, he grew up in Coventry, one of many parts of the UK then not yet used to the presence of a community different in both colour and experience.

His father was a carpenter and his mother a school cafeteria worker or ?dinner lady?. And he says his proudest moment was receiving an honourary degree from Coventry University, with his 88-year-old mother ? who used to clean the cookers in the student kitchen ? watching.

?I?ve always had this affinity with people who are disadvantaged and I?m not afraid to speak my mind,? he said, pointing to his sense of achievement at preventing a miscarriage of justice in the first Damilola Taylor trial.

Mr. Griffiths was vilified in the UK press for his treatment of a child witness, but his client was one of four youths cleared of murder in 2002.

A new trial involving three different defendants recently started at the Old Bailey, and the QC says this showed Police had the wrong people the first time around when they first investigated the murder of the ten-year-old London schoolboy.

He added: ?That affinity with people who are disadvantaged has stayed with me over the years, even though I?m now a very successful barrister.?

Although he failed to prevent Kenneth Burgess getting jailed for double murder, the QC has a list of prominent successes under his belt.

His services are believed to be far from cheap. But when asked how much would he cost to hire, the famously outspoken and ferociously articulate barrister stays tight-lipped ? for a few seconds at least

?I think I?m very good at my job,? said the avid Liverpool football fan and massive reggae aficionado, who was a Rastafarian and former sound system DJ before he took to the courts. ?As a consequence, if people want to employ my services they must expect to pay the going rate. Personally, I think I come cheap.?

The QC is soon due back in Bermuda for the fourth time in his career for a big drug smuggling case ? and he said he would like to become a ?regular fixture? on the Island.

He said it was important for there to be ?cross-fertilisation? between the Island and the UK, giving home-grown advocates the chance to see the career possibilities ? and earning power ? of following him into the ranks of Queen?s Counsel. Noting the lure of commercial law opportunities on the Island, he said it would be a shame if a group of Bermudian criminal lawyers did not emerge and gain enough experience to make ?the importation of people like me unnecessary?.

He added: ?Even if we got to this happy situation, links would still have to be maintained with England, otherwise the legal community here would be too insular.?