Murder

R v W – Attempted Murder – Winchester Crown Court – D alleged to have inflicted near fatal stab wound to D’s chest in course of drug related revenge attack. Plea to Section 18 accepted.

R v B - Central Criminal Court - D alleged, together with another, to have inflicted multiple blows and stab wounds. Cut-throat defence giving rise to issues of causation and requiring extensive analysis of expert pathological, neuro-pathological and blood distribution evidence.

R v A - Attempted Murder - Central Criminal Court. D identified as shooter in drive by gang related shooting. Victim shot in leg. Acquitted of attempted murder and section 18 GBH.

R v D - Central Criminal Court - D smashed skull of 18-month-old child. Plea of guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility accepted. Sentenced to a s.37 MHA 1983 hospital order. Leading judgment on relevant factors where “hybrid orders” being considered

R v G and ors. - Central Criminal Court - D alleged to be party to murder of rival gang member. Present at scene but denied participation. Acquitted.

R v L - Central Criminal Court - D accepted inflicting a fatal stab wound claiming to have acted in self-defence. Acquitted.

R v L and ors. - Central Criminal Court - Victim fatally stabbed in course of robbery. Conviction appealed on grounds, inter alia, of change of law relating to liability of secondary parties.

R v H - Central Criminal Court. D stabbed mother and set fire to her flat. Plea to manslaughter accepted on grounds of diminished responsibility.  

R v B - Central Criminal Court - D and co-d accused of strangling and smothering long term partner of latter. Cut-throat defence where co-d (good character) adduced D’s similar fact previous conviction for manslaughter. Co-d convicted. D Acquitted.‍

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Serious Violence/Kidnap/Modern Slavery

‍R v H – Causing Serious Injury by Dangerous Driving – Inner London Crown Court – D alleged to have rammed male against his vehicle following a road rage incident – exceptionally self-defence rather than duress of circumstances permitted to be left to jury following legal argument. D acquitted.

R v S – Conspiracy to rob – Southwark Crown Court – D alleged with others to have conspired to rob numerous victims across the London area targeted for their Rolex watches and incapacitated by being struck over the head with weapons. Following a detailed analysis of the cell site evidence relied] on by the crown D was acquitted of all but one of the 12 robberies with which he was charged.

R v Y and ors. – Kidnap, False Imprisonment, Blackmail, Possession of a Firearm with intent, Robbery – Inner London Crown Court – D claimed that the alleged victims were party to the same fraud D’s associates and denied participation in blackmail. D acquitted on all counts after disclosure of material undermining the credibility of the principal prosecution witnesses.

R v A and ors. – Armed Robbery – Croydon Crown Court – D alleged to have set honeytrap for an armed dwelling house robbery resulting in what the prosecution described as a “bloodbath”. D acquitted.

R v R – Section 18 Wounding – Snaresbrook Crown Court – D, who was HIV positive, alleged to have bitten face of victim who was with his family on day trip to London. Defence of self-defence against homophobic attack raised. D acquitted.

R v Z and ors. – Kidnap, False Imprisonment and Blackmail – St Albans Crown Court. D alleged to have kidnapped and blackmailed “groomed” drug dealers selling drugs on their behalf. Ordeal included sustained punishment beating. Defence of set up to avoid repayment of drug debt. D acquitted.

R v L - S.18 Wounding and Violent Disorder - Birmingham Crown Court - Represented CL alleged to be leading member of gang accused with others of knife attack, causing multiple stab wounds, on opposing gang in Birmingham shopping centre.  

R v A - Harassment - Snaresbrook Crown Court - D pursued campaign of harassment involving threats to petrol bomb complainant and rape his wife. Phone evidence relied on but complainant refusing to hand to police. Multiple disclosure issues. Following section 8 application, prosecution offered no evidence.  

R v P - Modern Slavery - Blackfriars Crown Court - complainant alleged to have been held in servitude for 7 years. D acquitted.

R v D - Modern Slavery (s.2 MSA 2015) /controlling prostitution- Southwark Crown Court – leading counsel - D arranged/facilitated travel from Thailand and Vietnam of women for the purposes of working for her escort agency. Crown alleged women held in conditions of servitude. ·        

R v A and ors. - Kidnap, False Imprisonment, Blackmail – Inner London Crown Court - leading counsel– complainant alleged to have been kidnapped by criminal gang and subjected to seven-day ordeal of torture and violence including sexual assault. ·        

R v W and ors. -Kidnap - D, a member of Birmingham’s Johnson Crew, together with others, alleged to have kidnapped rival gang member. D acquitted.

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Fraud/Money Laundering/Cybercrime

‍R v S – Money Laundering – Isleworth Crown Court – Leading counsel - D alleged to have laundered proceeds of an international property investment fraud - circa £0.5m transferred through multiple accounts under her control over a 4 year period. D acquitted following a 4 month trial.

R v W – Fraud – Inner London Crown Court – D, the bishop of a worldwide Pentecostal church, alleged to have sold miraculous cure for Covid derived from ingredients prescribed in bible.  

R v F - Fraudulent Trading - St Albans Crown Court - AF, a company director, alleged to have made false representations in relation to various businesses for the purpose defrauding its customers. Acquitted.

R v B - Conspiracy to defraud - Inner London Crown Court - D, a bank manager of a major city bank, conspired with others to defraud account holders of in excess of £1m. D acquitted.        

R v C - Misuse of Computers - Hacking - Blackfriars Crown Court. ZC charged with hacking into the US servers of both Microsoft and Nintendo and downloading source codes for new software products causing damage in excess of $2.5 million. ZC’s autism was, exceptionally, considered by the imposition of a suspended sentence. The court’s approach, acknowledging the challenges faced by autism sufferers within the criminal justice system, was welcomed by autism charities.      

R v KC and ors.  – Money Laundering - Woolwich Crown  Court. Represented leading participant in conspiracy to launder proceeds of people smuggling operation by diverting criminal property using the “hawala” banking system. Prosecution’s financial expert conceded in cross-examination not possible to determine whether source of funds constituted criminal property.

R v CC and ors. - Money Laundering -Snaresbrook Crown Court - Proceeds of large-scale fraud on clothing retail company All Saints laundered through D’s company’s business accounts. ·        

R v T and ors. - Conspiracy to Defraud and Money Laundering - Leicester Crown Court – Leading counsel representing D charged with £20m conspiracy to defraud NHS and other public bodies by diverting payments due to contractors into bank accounts set up across several different jurisdictions.·        

R v E and ors. - Conspiracy to defraud- Lincoln Crown Court - Multi-million pound “subprime” mortgage fraud. Acquitted following successful argument that the proceedings should be stayed on the grounds of serious disclosure failings by the prosecution.

R v S - Conspiracy to defraud - Southwark Crown Court - Multi-million-pound bond warehouse excise fraud. Proceedings stayed at re-trial on grounds of non-disclosure by prosecution.

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Drug Trafficking 

R v R – Conspiracy to supply class A drugs – Bristol Crown Court. D alleged to have supplied dugs and transferred cash across the UK on an industrial scale. Implicated through Encrochat messaging and direct messaging with D1 as northern based courier delivering 15kg of cocaine. D, who denied knowledge, was acquitted following a 3 month trial.

R v H – Conspiracy to supply class A drugs - Northampton Crown Court. PH was lead defendant (of eleven) alleged to have supplied class A and B drugs throughout the Midlands. D accepted phone traffic with co-conspirators (including the use of 12 burner phones and “Aquarist” encrypted phones) but claimed contact related to class B supply only. D acquitted. ·      

R v M - Conspiracy to supply class A drugs - Liverpool Crown Court - D alleged to have been ringleader in large scale drug supply line between Liverpool and Scotland.      

R v D - Conspiracy to import class A drugs -Winchester Crown Court - D alleged to have been organiser of largest ever importation of cocaine from Columbia. D acquitted.·      

R v H - Conspiracy to import class A drugs - Canterbury Crown Court - Drugs flown over in private planes and dropped by parachute in Kent.

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Serious Sexual Offences‍

R v F – Sexual Assault – Winchester Crown Court – D, accused of sexually assaulting a 15 year old boy. After being found unfit to plead acquitted following a trial of the fact.

R v P – Rape – Wood Green Crown Court – D alleged to have raped female where condom removed by “stealth” during sexual intercourse. Admissions in subsequent text exchanges. D acquitted.

R v H – Rape – Norwich Crown Court – D accused of Rape and Sexual Assault of three women – at trial D acquitted of rape but convicted of sexual assault. Sentence doubled following AG reference. Subsequently CA accede to submissions that convictions were rendered unsafe by adverse comment in the judge’s summing up. Convictions quashed and not guilty verdicts entered following an order for re-trial.

R v B – Rape (historic allegation) – Inner London Crown Court  - D alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted on multiple occasions a male under his care between 1994 and 1998. Defence of partial alibi and issue of false memory syndrome raised. D acquitted.

R v F – Rape – Snaresbrook Crown Court – D alleged to have engaged in sexual intercourse with complainant while she was asleep after plying her with alcohol. D acquitted.

R v B - Rape and Sexual Assault (historic allegation) - Harrow Crown Court -D charged with rape of his wife’s younger sister every other day for a period of 5 years between the ages of 10-15. Conviction upheld on appeal.

R v W - Rape and Sexual Assault - Birmingham Crown Court - WW accused of historic allegation of rape of a child under 16 over period of 5 years. D acquitted.

R v PS - Rape - Kingston Crown Court - Complainant discovered unconscious on public footpath by police moments after sexual intercourse with D. Allegation that she was incapable of giving consent rejected by jury. D acquitted.