John Rosolu Bankole Thompson

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John Rosolu Bankole Thompson (15 December 1936 – 15 May 2021) was a Sierra Leonean judge, jurist, professor, and lawyer who wrote about Sierra Leone’s law. He was born in Freetown to Creole parents and attended Prince of Wales School and Fourah Bay College, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy and liberal arts. He studied law at Christ’s College, Cambridge, earning LLB, LLM, and a doctorate in law, and was called to the English bar in 1971 as a member of the Inner Temple.

Back in Sierra Leone, Thompson served as a state attorney and then principal state attorney in the Office of the Attorney General. He was legal adviser to the Mano River Union from 1977 to 1981 and served on Sierra Leone’s High Court from 1981 to 1987. After an invitation to the United States by a judge and through Operation Crossroads Africa, he chose to stay and became the David Brennan Endowed Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Akron in 1988. He later taught at Eastern Kentucky University, where he was a professor in Criminal Justice and Police Studies and also served as dean of graduate studies.

Thompson served on the Special Court for Sierra Leone on a three‑judge panel with George Gelaga King to try cases from the Sierra Leone Civil War. In 2018 he was appointed to lead one of three Commissions of Inquiry for the Government of Sierra Leone and to head the Sierra Leone Anti‑Corruption Commission.

He died in Freetown on 15 May 2021 after a brief illness. He was survived by his wife, Dr Adiatu Thompson, and seven children.