Sir Michael Connell - Telegraph Connell's inquiry into the debacle blamed outdated starting equipment, human error and misjudgment by the racing authorities. The starter, Capt Keith Brown, was criticised for allowing the horses to get too close to the tape before the start; and it was concluded that the flag man, Ken Evans, who was supposed to warn jockeys of a false start by raising his flag, had not done so - a charge that he disputed. At Brasenose College, Oxford, he read Law and became master of draghounds, and in 1962 he was called to the Bar by Inner Temple, joining chambers at Queen Elizabeth Buildings. One of the finest advocates in his field, he chose to specialise in family law (cases involving alleged child abuse were a particular concern), but also worked in criminal and planning law. He took Silk in 1981. Connell began serving as a Recorder in 1980, and in 1991 was appointed a High Court judge , sitting in the Family Division . Few of his cases reached the public domain, but in 1999 he declared the Indonesian marriage ceremony undergone by Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall to be null and void. He retired in 2002 through ill health. Connell served as Deputy Senior Steward of the Jockey Club from 2004 to 2008, and represented the Club on the board of the British Horseracing Authority. In 2006 he chaired a BHA panel which refused riding licenses to the jockeys Kieren Fallon, Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams pending a criminal trial arising from an investigation by City of London Police. A devotee of hunting, he succeeded his father as Master of the Grafton in 1973. He remained Master until 1995, when he reluctantly stood down, feeling that his role as a judge was incompatible with the growing campaign to ban the sport (which finally succeeded in 2004). His passion for National Hunt racing continued to the end of his life, and he owned and bred racehorses on his own account. He was a member of MCC, and a governor of Harrow School (chairman, 1997-2002), to which he sent his three sons. A keen golfer, he won the Bar Golfing Society Annual Tournament at Royal Cinque Ports, Deal, in 2000. Michael Connell had been suffering from leukaemia. He married, in 1965, Anne Joan Pulham, a racehorse trainer, who survives him with their three sons and one daughter. Sir Michael Connell, born August 6 1939, died January 30 2013