Hugh Emlyn Hooson, Baron Hooson, (26 March 1925 – 21 February 2012) was a Welsh Liberal and then Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire from 1962 until 1979. Early life Hooson was born at Colomendy in Denbighshire, the middle child of three sons to Hugh and Elsie Hooson. He was educated at Denbigh Grammar School and read law at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. He joined the Royal Navy in 1943 and served during the Second World War, on a corvette in the north Atlantic. Legal career He became a barrister, called to the bar by Gray's Inn in 1949, and in 1960 became one of the youngest ever Queen's Counsel, aged 35. He was chairman of the Flint Quarter Sessions from 1960 and Merioneth Quarter Sessions from 1962, until he became Recorder of Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea in 1971. He was a member of the Bar Council from 1965. As QC, Hooson represented Ian Brady, one of the "Moors Murderers" along with Myra Hindley, when Brady was tried and convicted of three murder charges at Chester Assizes in spring 1966. He described some of the evidence against Brady as "flimsy". In 1970 he appeared for the Ministry of Defence at a public inquiry over plans to move its experimental range from Shoeburyness to Pembrey, near Carmarthen. He went on to become Recorder of both Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea in 1971, Elected Leader of the Wales and Chester Circuit 1971 to 1974, he was a Recorder of the Crown Court from 1972 until 1991, as well as a Deputy High Court Judge. He was President of the Cambrian Law Review and was the Hon. Professional Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Political career Hooson became chairman of the Liberal Party of Wales in 1955 and was elected to the Liberal Party executive in 1965. He contested Conway at the 1950 general election and again in 1951. As Chairman of the Liberal Party of Wales, he led its merger with the North and South Wales Liberal Federations, thereby uniting liberalism in Wales in the Welsh Liberal Party. He became MP for Montgomeryshire at a 1962 by-election following the death of Clement Davies, as a member of the Liberal Party. He contested the Liberal Party leadership election of 1967, but withdrew in favour of Jeremy Thorpe after gaining only a quarter of the votes