Career prosecutor Claudette Thompson will take office officially as the island’s chief advocate on Monday, October 13, 2025, following on the retirement of former Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn, King’s Counsel last month.

The Office of the Services Commission, in a letter dated October 7, 2025, notified the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) of Thompson’s appointment.

Thompson, who had been acting in the post since Llewellyn’s exit and who has acted at various other times during her career, had held the substantive post of senior deputy director of prosecutions prior to this appointment.

The seasoned prosecutor, who was also clerk of the court in St Ann in 2004 before becoming assistant Crown counsel at the ODPP in 2007, has played a signal role in several high-profile prosecutions, including the anti-gang case which led to the conviction in 2023 of Andre “Blackman” Bryan, leader of the One Don faction of the Klansman gang. She was also pivotal in the prosecution and conviction of the Uchence Wilson gangsters in 2020.

Thompson also featured prominently in the 2019 conviction of Klansman leader Tesha Miller for accessory after the fact to murder. Miller was convicted in connection with the murder of Jamaica Urban Transit Company Chairman Douglas Chambers in 2008.

Both Miller and Bryan are serving life sentences.

Thompson also prosecuted murder convict Dantae Brooks in 2021. Brooks is the son of dancehall deejay Movado.

She also has a range of experience in the conduct of complex prosecutions in the Parish Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal.

Her duties at the ODPP over the years included the conduct of rulings from various State entities, being head of the Roster Committee, head of the Gun Court Unit, and being in charge of the Home Circuit Administration Unit. Thompson has also been tasked over the years with heading the Seminar Planning Committee and being liaison officer for the clerk of the courts.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, and attended University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws Degree, as well as Norman Manley Law School where she obtained her Certificate of Legal Education.

She is a member of the Criminal Case Management Steering Committee, a member of the Human Resource Management Committee in the Ministry of Justice, serves on the Legal Aid Board, and was vice-president of the Legal Officers’ Staff Association.

Thompson has given a range of feature addresses over the years at conferences in Jamaica and overseas on subject areas including ‘Statement taking under the Committal Proceedings Act’, ‘The DNA Evidence’, ‘Chain of Custody’, along with ‘Programmes to Improve Corruption Control and Manage Crime Prevention and Criminal Case Management in Jamaica’.

Thompson has also presented on ‘Cross Examination and Re-Examination 101’, ‘Courtroom Demeanour and Testimony’, ‘The Plea Negotiations Act’, and ‘Bail Applications.

— Alicia Dunkley-Willis