He was an academic at the
University of London from 1962 to 1984. Prior to this he was a columnist for
The Observer. He was Chair of the Mental Health Act Commission from 1987 to 1994 and a Judge in the Court of Appeal of Jersey and of Guernsey from 1988 to 1996. He has chaired more than a dozen inquiries over the last decade including the
Guns for Antigua scandal, and the Jasmine Beckford and the
Ashworth Hospital Inquiries. He sat as a Deputy High Court Judge on housing and judicial review cases until 1996. Blom-Cooper is well known for his regulatory work, particularly as Chair of the
Press Council now the
Press Complaints Commission and later as the founding chair of the premium rate telephony regulator, ICSTIS, later PhonepayPlus and now the
Phone-paid Services Authority. In 1992 he was appointed by the
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as the first Independent Commissioner for the Holding Centres. He held this appointment until April 1999. He was recently called to the Bar of Northern Ireland and granted Silk in Northern Ireland. He was also counsel to the
Saville Inquiry acting for the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.
The A6 murder, Regina v. James Hanratty In 1963 Blom-Cooper argued that
James Hanratty was probably guilty. In 2002 modern testing of
DNA from Hanratty's exhumed corpse convinced
Court of Appeal judges that his guilt was proved "beyond doubt".
Hunter & Callaghan v Duckworth & Company and Blom-Cooper The 1997 book
The Birmingham Six and Other Cases considered recent miscarriages of justice. It prompted an unsuccessful libel action in the Irish courts from
Gerry Hunter and Hugh Callaghan. Initially Blom-Cooper argued that the publication of the book in Ireland was outside of his control. When this failed, he relied on European Convention on Human Rights#Article 10—right to freedom of expression and the newly formulated defence of
Qualified privilege—provided good practice was followed it was acceptable to get things wrong. Previously inaccuracy would have led to financial penalty. Despite this, solicitor
Gareth Peirce accused Blom-Cooper of "shoddy research" and "total nonsense" in respect of the book. ==Campaigner==