The Right Honourable Sir Frederick Lawton, a former Lord Justice of Appeal who taught both Margaret Thatcher and Sir Robin Day, has died in York aged 89.

Sir Frederick, who was known in the legal profession as Fred, moved to North Yorkshire after retiring from the bench in 1986 and he remained a keen follower of criminal law.

Born in Peckham, the son of a prison officer, he was educated at Cambridge and practised at the Bar until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Sir Frederick served in the Royal Ulster Rifles until 1941 when he was invalided out following an accident.

When he returned to the Bar, he soon built a reputation as a formidable cross-examiner in a series of high-profile cases, and mastered not only criminal law but also civil and common law and the work of other divisions.

Sir Frederick was appointed to the High Court bench in 1961 and the Court of Appeal in 1972.

Sir Robin Day once said of him: "My failure at the Bar cannot be blamed on my admirable pupil master, Fred Lawton, later Lord Justice Lawton, to whom I am deeply indebted."

A regular contributor to the correspondence columns of The Times until two months before his death, he appeared on the BBC's Question Time last year.

Sir Frederick's last public appearance in York was at the centenary dinner of the Yorkshire Union of Law Societies at the Merchant Taylors' Hall. Then aged 88, he spoke for 15 minutes without notes and without hesitation.

He leaves two sons, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A Requiem Mass will be said at St Wilfrid's Roman Catholic Church, Duncombe Place, York, at noon on Saturday.

Updated: 10:45 Monday, February 05, 2001