Born in
Stockport, John Owen was the son of R. J. Owen and Mrs O. B. Owen. His sister is
Joan Seccombe, Baroness Seccombe. He came from a legal background: both of his grandfathers and his uncle were lawyers. He was educated at
Solihull School, then went to
Brasenose College, Oxford, before being called up for military service during the
Second World War. After a brief stint in the
Royal Navy, he was commissioned into the
2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles, and served in India in the run-up to
Partition. Returning to Brasenose in 1947, he read Law and graduated MA and BCL (1949), and obtained a
half-blue in athletics. Owen was
called to the Bar by
Gray's Inn in 1951, and joined the Midland and Oxford Circuit. Practicing from Arthur Evan James’s chambers in Temple Row, Birmingham, Owen built a mixed practice, but was predominantly engaged in criminal work. He became a
Queen's Counsel in 1970, and joined Michael Davis QC's chambers at Harcourt Buildings,
Temple. He was a Deputy Chairman of
Warwickshire Quarter Sessions from 1967 to 1971 and a
Recorder from 1972 to 1984. He was elected a
Bencher of Gray's Inn in 1980, and was Deputy Leader of Midland and Oxford Circuit from 1980 to 1984. He was also a member of the Senate of the Inns of Court and the Bar from 1977 to 1980 and Chairman of the West Midlands Area Mental Health Review Tribunal from 1972 to 1980. Owen was appointed a
Circuit Judge sitting at the
Central Criminal Court in 1984, and a
Justice of the High Court in 1986. Receiving the customary
knighthood, he was assigned to the
Queen's Bench Division. He was Presiding Judge of the Midland and Oxford Circuit from 1988 to 1992. He retired from the High Court in 2000. A member of the
General Synod of the Church of England for many years, Owen was
Chancellor of the
Diocese of Derby from 1973 to 1980, of the
Diocese of Coventry from 1973 to 1980, and of the
Diocese of Southwell from 1979 to 1980. He was
Dean of the Arches Court of Canterbury, Auditor of the
Chancery Court of York, and
Master of the Faculties from 1980 to 2000. In 1993, he received a
Lamberth DCL. He helped to establish the first degree course in
canon law in Britain since the Reformation at
Cardiff University and, in retirement, obtained an
LLM from the university in 1996. == Notable cases ==