A barrister renowed for his ground-breaking human rights work was named yesterday as the next Director of Public Prosecutions.

The appointment of Keir Starmer, QC, 45, who comes from the radical chambers Doughty Street, came as a complete surprise within legal circles but was widely acclaimed as “enlightened”.

Mr Starmer, who is on paternity leave after the birth of his first child, Toby, three weeks ago, has brought a number of high-profile cases against the Government and is known as much for his human rights background as his criminal experience. This includes all the leading death penalty appeals in recent years from the Caribbean, leading to the abolition of mandatory capital punishment in those countries.

As DPP he will run the Crown Prosecution Service, which brings most criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. He will take over at the end of October when Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, steps down.

Sir Ken was the first DPP with a background as a defence barrister. There had been concern that the choice of his suces-sor would turn the clock back, with someone being appointed from a prosecution background.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney-General, said: “I believe he has the ability, knowledge and vision to take the Crown Prosecution Service into the future.”

Mr Starmer has acted as a prosecutor and CPS adviser in the past but is best known for his work challenging government decisions in the fields of human rights and criminal law.

He acted for two terror suspects in the landmark House of Lords case last year that led to the control order system for terror suspects being declared unlawful under human rights law.

In 2005 he led a team representing 14 human rights organisations in a critical Lords case that resulted in the ruling that intelligence extracted by torture was not admissible in any British court.

In April this year he acted for the family of James Ashley – who was shot dead by police when naked and unarmed – in their successful Lords case for the right to bring a civil misconduct action against Sussex Police.

Lady Scotland said: “He has a real understanding of the importance of independent prosecution and a wealth of knowledge across all aspects of the law.”

Mr Starmer, who lives in North London and is married to a solicitor, said: “The CPS is at the heart of the criminal justice system and is committed to providing a world-class prosecution service. Leading it at this important time will be a great privilege.”

Sir Ken described his successor as an outstanding lawyer who would “bring exactly the right values and leadership to the CPS”.

Mr Starmer was educated at Leeds University and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and is “mad about Arsenal”, according to a colleague. He also plays football about three times a week.

He was called to the Bar in 1987 and is joint head of Doughty Street chambers and head of its criminal team.

Unlike many barristers he also has outside experience and, for the past five years, has been human rights adviser to the Policing Board in Northern Ireland during its restructuring. He worked closely there with the Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde.

Tim Dutton, QC, chairman of the Bar, said: “This is an absolutely enlightened appointment.”

Gavin Millar, QC. a fellow barrister at Doughty Street, said: “The CPS only now is really beginning to have the professional role envisaged for it right from the outset, being an effective manager of prosecutions from the start of cases and working with the police, and Keir is very enthused with the idea of that system coming into effect and with ensuring that we have a good and fair prosecution system.”

Stephen Parkinson, head of the criminal department at the law firm Kingsley Napley, said that the challenge would be “providing effective leadership for a large public sector organisation and being accountable for 15 million prosecutions, many of which are highly sensitive”.

Mr Starmer has been a vocal critic of the Government in the past. In 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, he wrote of the Government’s problem of credibility and coyness about its advice: “On the eve of war that is not good enough.”

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