Judge Jonathan Rose talks about his recent OBE, the case that shaped his career, and why the law is for everyone
His Honour Judge Jonathan Rose has just been awarded an OBE for services to the administration of justice and to the young people of Bradford – recognition for a career that began, he says, with “quite a rocky path”.
The former UHC president (who is still very much involved in the shul), Jonathan was educated at Roundhay School, setting his sights on medicine, but his A-level results didn’t secure a university place to study it.
With the encouragement of his father, he found his way instead to Preston Polytechnic, now the University of Lancashire, to study law: “It turned me from someone who had done very poorly at school into someone who did rather well in his final examinations.” He’s been an honorary fellow of the university since 2016.
Called to the bar in 1978, Jonathan completed his pupillage at Bradford Chambers under Sidney Levine, before practising as a criminal barrister in Leeds and Bradford. He became a part-time judge in 1999, sitting in the Crown Court, county courts, and mental health review tribunals, and was appointed a full-time judge at Bradford Crown Court in 2008 – a role in which he still specialises in criminal law.
It was also in 2008 that Jonathan took on the role of judge in charge of education at Bradford Crown Court, a responsibility that began with school visits and came to be a defining aspect of his career.
He speaks regularly at universities, including Bradford University’s law department and school of forensic science, drawing on the case of Stefan Kiszko who was wrongly convicted of the 1975 murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed and exonerated by DNA evidence after 16 years in prison.
Jonathan wrote a book about the case, ‘Innocence’ was published in 1998:
“It’s the thought that no aspect of the evidence presented in a criminal trial should be manipulated in a way that could result in a wrongful conviction.”
In 2015, Jonathan founded Spruce – student pre-university court exposure – a three-day course for Year 12 students considering a legal career. Now held at Bradford City Hall after outgrowing its original courtroom home, Spruce brings in barristers, solicitors, legal executives, and academics, with sessions on diversity and inclusion alongside mock trials and sentencing exercises.
He has also introduced a biennial open day at Bradford Crown Court, drawing around 1,500 visitors on each occasion, with mock trials, police and prison service displays, and even birds of prey brought in by HM Prison Leeds.
For Jonathan, the work is rooted in widening access to the profession: “The legal profession prior to 1990 was very much occupied by people following in the footsteps of relations who may have come from privileged backgrounds.
The law is for anyone… you don’t have to be a genius at 18. What you do have to be is committed, determined, and prepared to work extremely hard.”
Given Bradford’s multicultural population, he sees representation as essential not for its own sake, but because the profession must reflect the communities it serves.
Jonathan was appointed Resident Judge at Bradford Crown Court in 2023 and Honorary Recorder of Bradford the following year – the city’s senior legal figure, an unpaid civic role that has seen him attend events from the Bradford Council AGM to the annual memorial service for the 1985 Bradford City fire.
Of his OBE in the recent King’s Birthday Honours, Jonathan regards the honour with an understated humility and laughs off the notion that it might confer any special privileges: “It doesn’t gain you access to Wimbledon tickets, for example.”
The official investiture ceremony will take place later this year.
It’s a significant accomplishment in what has been a remarkable career and, while appreciative of the recognition and the honour, Jonathan is emphatic about sharing the credit: “I get a lot of support from some excellent members of staff, members of the bar, and the solicitors’ profession.”
This is particularly the case with Spruce, which depends on professionals giving their time freely: “I am very mindful that, although I’ve been honoured in this way, I’ve also benefitted from the help of some really great people.”
