Hutchinson was
called to the Bar in the
Middle Temple in 1939. However, he soon joined the
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve to serve during the
Second World War. He survived the sinking of the destroyer
HMS Kelly during the
Battle of Crete in 1941, due to being on deck when it was attacked. In 1944, he was posted to
Caserta, Italy, and there he prosecuted his first case as a barrister: the
capital murder trial of soldier who was duly convicted of a gang-related murder. and became a
Queen's Counsel in 1961. He was a
Bencher,
Recorder of
Bath and of the
Crown Court between 1963 and 1988. He also led the defence of
Kempton Bunton, charged with the theft of the Goya
portrait of the Duke of Wellington in 1965 but who was acquitted of all charges save for the theft of the frame. The prosecution withdrew after Hutchinson demonstrated that Ross-Cornes could have witnessed the actor's thumb protruding from his fist and the case was ended after the Attorney-General entered a
nolle prosequi. Hutchinson was a member of the Committee on Immigration Appeals and of the Committee on Identification Procedures. Hutchinson was vice-chairman of the
Arts Council of Great Britain and a professor of law at the
Royal Academy of Arts. At the
Tate Gallery, he was first a trustee and then chairman (1980-84) and was also chairman of London Historic House Museum Trust (1988-93).
House of Lords On 16 May 1978, Hutchinson was created a
life peer with the title Baron Hutchinson of Lullington, of
Lullington in the County of
East Sussex. He initially sat in the
House of Lords as a
Labour peer. However, he
crossed the floor and joined the
Liberal Party in 1979, and he then joined the
Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. The Liberal Party and the SDP merged in 1988 to create the Social and Liberal Democrats, later renamed as the
Liberal Democrats, and he would then sit in the Lords with this party until his retirement. Following the death of
Edward Short, Baron Glenamara, in May 2012, Hutchinson became the oldest living life peer. Hutchinson was four years older than
Lord Carrington, who was the oldest sitting member of the
House of Lords. ==Personal life and death==