Born in Kensington, London, Michael Turner was the son of Theodore Francis Turner QC and of Elizabeth Alice,
née Schuster, daughter of
Claud Schuster, 1st Baron Schuster, He was educated at
Westminster School and
Magdalene College, Cambridge. After
National Service with the
7th Hussars, he was
called to the English bar by the
Inner Temple in 1954. He specialised in insurance and personal injuries cases. He
took silk in 1973. He had two children with his first wife, and another two when married to
David Croom-Johnson's daughter. Having served as a
recorder from 1972 to 1985, Turner was appointed a Justice of the High Court in 1985, receiving the customary
knighthood, and was assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. Among his important trials as a judge were the miners’ respiratory disease litigation against
British Coal and the manslaughter trial against P&O European Ferries (Dover) Ltd and seven others after the sinking of
MS Herald of Free Enterprise. == References ==