Chairman – Sir Gary Hickinbottom
Sir Gary Hickinbottom is a solicitor, who practised in litigation as a partner in a London firm (McKenna and Co, and then CMS Cameron McKenna) until 2000, when he was made a full-time judge.
He was appointed to a succession of judicial appointments in both the court and tribunal systems including Circuit Judge, Chief Social Security Commissioner for Great Britain, Designated Civil Judge for Wales, President of the Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal and Deputy Senior President of Tribunals, before being made a High Court Judge and then a Judge of the Court of Appeal. He is currently President of Welsh Tribunals, and member of the Judicial Openness and Transparency Board.
In 2021, Sir Gary retired from the Court of Appeal to conduct a Commission of Inquiry into governance and corruption in the British Virgin Islands, on which he reported in April 2022. He then chaired the JUSTICE Working Party on Government Outsourcing which reported in April 2024. In 2024, he was appointed Chair of the Post Office Overturned Convictions Independent Pecuniary Losses Assessment Panel and the Horizon Convictions Redress Panel.
Other members of the Inquiry team
Counsel to the Inquiry – Matthew Hill
Matthew Hill is an independent barrister who specialises in public inquiries, inquests and public law. He has worked as junior counsel to the inquiry or inquest in the Infected Blood Inquiry, the Hillsborough Inquests (2014-2016), the Birmingham Pub Bombing Inquests, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. He has also acted for interested parties or core participants in the Covid-19 Inquiry, the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, the Southport Inquiry, the Westminster Bridge attack inquests, and the Al-Sweady Public Inquiry. He represented the families of the victims in the inquests following the Reading Terror attack in 2020.
Matthew has written extensively on public inquiries and inquests and the investigative duties under articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He is co-editor of the recently published second edition of The Inquests Book: The Law of Coroners and Inquests (2025). Matthew’s public law practise includes work on national security, information rights, immigration, human rights, and statutory and non-statutory inquiries. He is a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel.
Before coming to the Bar Matthew studied and taught modern history and worked as an historian on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.
Assessor – Baroness Nuala O’Loan DBE MRIA
Baroness Nuala O’Loan DBE MRIA is a member of the House of Lords and was the first Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. She has held many public appointments including chairing the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel of inquiry into the Metropolitan Police Service; membership of the 2022 Government Independent Review of the Human Rights Act, and is a member of the International Steering Group for Operation Kenova, investigating the activities of an alleged British Army agent, known as Stakeknife; Is a member of the Group of Experts and Stakeholders for the McCullough Review into PSNI surveillance of journalists, lawyers and other groups; Is a Director of the Trust Board of the Archdiocese of Westminster and Chair of the Trustee’s Safeguarding Committee.
Among other things she was Ireland’s Special Envoy for Conflict Resolution; has acted in an advisory capacity on policing and police accountability across the world; was involved in the Spanish ETA peace process leading to the voluntary ceasefire in 2011; is a solicitor, and held the Jean Monnet Chair in European Law at the University of Ulster until 1999; is the recipient of a number of honorary doctorates in recognition of her work.
Assessor – Francesca Del Mese
Francesca Del Mese is an international criminal and human rights lawyer specialising in security sector reform in conflict and fragile States and countries experiencing political transition. She also serves as a judge (Member) of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal; the UK’s judicial body that oversees MI5, MI6, GCHQ, police forces and other State entities that hold intrusive powers. She sits as a judge (Recorder) in the Crown Court, and has overseen serious police misconduct as a Legally Qualified Chair.
Her roles have spanned approximately 50 countries, including Legal Advisor for the UN Mission of Inquiry into Atrocities Committed in Syria, Senior Strategy Advisor on Countering Violent Extremism for the UN in New York, Legal Advisor for the UN in Palestine (Gaza and West Bank), Transitional Justice Expert for the Foreign Office, and in Libya. Francesca has worked in international war crimes tribunals, including in The Hague.
She has led independent reviews for the United Nations in Somalia, Iraq and Lesotho, the UK in Pakistan, and the Director of Public Prosecutions in Mauritius. She is a former Commissioner for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, charged with scrutinising UK foreign aid. Francesca continues to lecture and advise the UN, governments and NGOs on peace processes and transitional justice, constitutions and legislation. She is on the UN Security Council’s list of experts and is a member of various UN and UK government expert panels.
Solicitor to the Inquiry – Stephen Brown
Stephen Brown is a Senior Civil Servant, Deputy Director, and joint head of a Public Inquiry team in the Government Legal Department (GLD). Stephen qualified as a Solicitor in 1991 and worked as a legal aid lawyer for over 10 years before joining GLD in 2004. Stephen has had direct involvement in nearly all recent public inquiries in some capacity, whether assisting with set up, supporting witnesses or advising Chairs directly. He has acted as Solicitor to the Cranston Inquiry. He was also Deputy Solicitor to the Undercover Policing Inquiry for three years.
Secretary to the Inquiry – Alison Bennett
Alison Bennett is a career civil servant with a background in corporate and operational governance. For five years she was responsible for the delivery and policy on the UK honours system, working closely with a wide range of independent committees as well as across Government, civil society, community and business organisations UK-wide. She was also Secretary to the House of Lords Appointments Commission, an independent advisory body overseeing the appointment of crossbench (independent) peers to the House of Lords and for carrying out vetting of peerage applicants.
As Secretary to the Inquiry, Alison is responsible for setting up and leading the Inquiry’s secretariat and supporting Sir Gary in his role as Chairman. She also acts as the main contact between the Inquiry and the UK Government’s Northern Ireland Office, protecting the Inquiry Chairman and the Inquiry’s independence.