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Crime:
Long and wide ranging experience of criminal defence, across all categories of case. Regularly instructed in high profile and complex criminal cases, from murder and violent sexual offences through to commercial serious fraud.
Often instructed in two counsel cases where painstaking preparatory work, proficiency in IT presentation, and imaginative advocacy are required.
Particular experience in the defence of professionals charged with white-collar fraud, and of businesses facing Trading Standards, BERR/DTI, Health & Safety or Revenue & Customs prosecutions.
Regularly instructed in complex appellate work, particularly appeals against conviction relying upon fresh evidence.
Recent Cases:
Regina v A.C. - Successful defence of Arran Coghlan, renowned Chesire businessman, who was charged with the murder of Cheetham Hill Gang member Stephen Akinyemi. Arran Coghlan, the target of two previous unsuccessful prosecutions for murder brought by the Greater Manchester Police, had always protested his innocence, maintaining that he had done no more than defend himself from attack and that the prosecution was brought in bad faith. The case turned on the interpretation of a huge body of forensic scientific evidence. Mr Coghlan was acquitted when the prosecution eventually accepted, after being served with a very substantial dismissal argument, that they could not prove that the killing had not been in self-defence.
Regina v S.B. - Junior Counsel for defendant charged with the joint enterprise murder of the owner of currency exchange business in Longsight Manchester, who was shot in the course of being robbed of substantial amount of cash. Successfully negotiated limited basis of plea to robbery and defendant received 13 months imprisonment.
Regina v T.T. - Successful defence of alleged gang member charged with conspiracy to murder - case concerned a drive-by revenge shooting using a semi-automatic weapon in which victims were members of an opposing street gang.
Regina v Y.B. - Defence of professional interpreter charged with conveying a prohibited article into prison under the new provisions of the Offender Management Act. Successful argument, appearing alone in the Court of Appeal, defining the interpretation of the Act - that offence was not one of strict liability but required proof of mens rea.
Regina v K.Z. - Largest seizure of opium in British history. Appearing alone, successfully defended Iranian national charged with the importation of opium into the UK through Dover.
Regina v G.B. - Successful defence of care-worker charged with 30 counts of historic sexual assault and familial rape. Case included delicate cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses, and of the Defendant's own mother who was a key prosecution witness.
Regina v K.K. - Instructed as leading counsel in the defence of a Polish national charged with large conspiracies to import drugs and firearms into the U.K. Case involved 25 defendants.
Regina v K.O. - Successful defence of chart-topping music industry professional after seizure of £2million of heroin by Operation Trident officers.
Regina v B.K. - Defence of a construction company director against charges of conspiracy to cheat the Revenue in connection with the operation of the Construction Industry Scheme. Restraint and confiscation.
Regina v J.S. - Successful defence of company director charged, under Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, with intimidation of claimants in a civil debt action and perverting the course of justice.
Regina v T.M. - Instructed to defend a practising solicitor on charges of conspiracy to defraud the Home Office in respect of asylum applications.
Regina v K.A. - As leading counsel, successfully defended an allegation of attempted in murder in North London drug gang context.
Regina v D.C. - Groundbreaking prosecution, under the Computer Misuse Act, of a security analyst suspected of having "hacked" into the Tsunami Relief Fund donations website.
Regina v B.L. - Multi-handed Flying Squad prosecution at the Old Bailey involving a series of armed robberies. Instructed as leading counsel and conducted successful defence.
Jubilee Line - Instructed as junior counsel to defend in this exceptionally lengthy and complex case at the Central Criminal Court. The case concerned allegations of conspiracy to defraud and corruption by professional surveyors, in the context of a huge, politically-charged civil engineering project.
Transatlantic Aircraft Terrorist Plot - Instructed to defend one of the 15 men arrested and charged in connection with a terrorist suicide plan to detonate liquid explosives on transatlantic flights.
Proceeds of Crime:
Extensive experience of confiscation work, including the protection of third party interests, revisiting confiscation orders upon the discovery of new assets, certificates of inadequacy and the enforcement of orders through the implementation of default sentences. High Court restraint orders and civil freezing injunctions.
Family:
High Court and County Court appearances in Family cases, both ancillary relief and Children Act matters.
Fact finding disputes in cases of domestic and sexual abuse.
Also experience of cohabitee claims and financial provision under Schedule 1 of the Children Act.
Tribunals:
Representation of professionals on a regulator's applications for orders based on misconduct, breaches of professional regulations, negligence and dishonesty. Application of recent regulatory reform legislation and standards expected of regulator's investigations by the BERR's Statutory Code of Practice for Regulators.
Recent success includes forcing the withdrawal of allegations in the Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal and obtaining an order that the Respondent's costs be paid by the Regulator, owing to deficiencies in the quality and extent of the investigation by the SRA.
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