Derek Curtis-Bennett

Frederick Henry Derek Curtis-Bennett, QC (29 February 1904 – July 1956) was a British barrister who defended some of the most notorious characters in British legal history, but whose career was cut short by alcoholism.

His father was Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett KC, whose biography he wrote with Roland Wild.

[1] Among those that Curtis-Bennett defended were William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw), serial killer John Christie (1953), Sergeant Frederick Emmett-Dunne, atom spy Klaus Fuchs, and Burmese politician U Saw.

Curtis-Bennett pursued the truth in the Christie case as his client admitted more and more murders, despite it being injurious to his defence.

He was discovered at his home in Courtfield Gardens, Earls Court, London, on 23 July 1956[3] Following medical evidence showing considerable liver damage, the coroner commented that the verdict "must be one of alcoholism".