The son of the Revd Cyril Lucraft, a United Reform Church minister, he was educated at Wood Green School, a state comprehensive school in the market town of Witney, Oxfordshire, before going up to the University of Kent, where he read Law. Lucraft graduated as BA in 1983.[2]
Luucraft was called to the Bar in 1984.[2] Appointed Recorder in 2003,[2] he took silk (QC) in 2006,[2] becoming a full-time judge in 2012[3] and was a Senior Circuit Judge at the Central Criminal Court ("Old Bailey") from 2015, where he was appointed as Resident Judge in April 2020.[4] Prominent cases include a life sentence in 2024 for Fiona Beal, who murdered her partner Nicholas Billingham in 2021.[5]
From 2016 to 2020, Lucraft was Chief Coroner of England and Wales, while continuing as an Old Bailey judge.[6][2] As Chief Coroner, he presided over the inquests into the 2017 Westminster attack,[7] the 2017 London Bridge and Borough Market attack,[8] and the 2019 London Bridge stabbings.[9]
In 2020, before relinquishing the role of Chief Coroner, he became Recorder of London, the senior judge at the Old Bailey.[10][11] The roles were allowed to overlap due to the pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] By tradition, the Recorder of London is also appointed High Steward of Southwark,[12] and Lucraft accordingly occupies this position.[13] In October 2023, he ruled that the name and date of birth of the police officer who shot Chris Kaba could be made public on 30 January 2024.[14]
Lucraft is the general editor of Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice, an annual publication for practitioners of criminal law in the Crown Courts.[15] He is a Liveryman of the Founders' Company and an Honorary Liveryman of the Curriers' Company.[16]
