Background Gavel
Paul Douglass
Barrister
pdouglass@rosecourtchambers.com
Year of call:
1996

About

Paul was called to the Bar in 1996 and has developed both a prosecution and defence practice. He specialises in serious and historic sexual offences, violence, drugs and fraud. 
Paul is a member of the South Eastern Circuit and Criminal Bar Association. He is a qualified Pupil Supervisor.

Experience

Prosecution

R v S. 2021. Multi-complainant case involving allegations of serious sexual offences and controlling prostitution. Pending.

R v B. 2021. D convicted unanimously of assault by penetration of his wife’s 9-year-old niece. 

R v PO. 2021. Historic 4-complainant case involving allegations of cruelty and sexual abuse. Pending.

R v S. 2021. Historic 3-complainant case involving allegations of sexual abuse. Pending. 

R v O. 2021. Historic allegation by stepson and daughter of sexual abuse over many years. Pending. 

R v PF. 2020/1. Operation Sheppey. Multiple-victim case involving rape and other serious sexual offences against boys aged 5-16 between the years 1985-2020. 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/26/former-great-ormond-street-hospital-porter-charged-with-child-sex-offences

R v N and S 2020/1. Operation Submedian. 2020. Multi-handed people smuggling case. Pending. 

https://extra.ie/2020/03/07/news/irish-news/two-irish-nationals-charged-in-connection-with-people-smuggling-in-uk

R v O. 2020. Attempted rape. 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/student-rami-othmane-hackney-sicily-jailed-attempted-rape-cctv-operator-spotted-crime-a4434026.html

R v WS. 2020. Facilitation of illegal entry.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-51572433

R v H. 2020. Operation Vasemaker. Online grooming by foreign national.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7986603/French-paedophile-29-flew-UK-sexually-abuse-12-year-old-girl.html

R v M. 2020. Complex interfamilial rape. D unanimously convicted after 12-day trial.

R v A. 2019. Operation Skippery. £22m Cocaine/Crystal meth importation.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6364347/drug-shipment-mexico-olivia-anton-altamirano/

R v G. 2019. Two stranger rapes committed in 2011 and 2018. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9216233/married-businessman-life-sentence-raping-two-women/

R v S. 2019. Causing death by careless driving. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/oap-spared-prison-for-killing-dad-to-be-214370/

R v S. 2019. Assault by penetration of a child under 13. 

https://www.cps.gov.uk/london-north/news/edmonton-man-who-abducted-and-sexually-assaulted-10-year-old-jailed.

R v S and H. 2019. Section 18. Perverting the Course of Justice. Stabbing of a 16-year-old boy by his brother-in-law with the connivance of the victim’s sister, the wife of D1. 

Defence

2019. R v M. Assault by penetration. Successfully defended a client accused of penetrating the complainant’s vagina with his tongue as she slept in her bedroom. The issue was consent. 

2018. R v M. Successfully represented a 73-year-old client accused of historic sexual abuse of two foster children in the 1990s. The allegations included repeated rapes of one of the complainants over a three-year period. The complainants had come forward independently. After a two-week trial the defendant was acquitted on all counts.  

2018. R v F. Successfully defended a client accused of perverting the course of justice.

2016. R v C. Central Criminal Court.  Successfully represented a former police officer accused of fraud by false representation, it being alleged that she had dishonestly exaggerated the extent of injuries received in the course of her duty as a police officer for the purpose of making a fraudulent personal injury claim. The prosecution relied on 8 hours of covert surveillance footage of the defendant. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12082613/Police-officer-accused-of-falsely-claiming-300k-for-shoulder-injury-spotted-carrying-child-and-throwing-a-ball.html


Notable Cases

R v R. 2018. Trident case. Successful prosecution of PWITS class A. 

R v S and P. 2018. Aggravated domestic burglary. Trial involving meta-tracking data.  Both defendants changed their pleas to guilty on day 6 of the trial.

R v K 2018. Stranger rape. D preyed on drunken females in a cocktail bar one Friday evening. Defendant convicted on all counts.

R v A. 2018. Indecent images of children.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/buckingham-palace-tourist-worker-child-sex-abuse-jailed-tony-aslett-london-a8385391.html

R v S. EWCA Crim 1479 2018. Rape.  

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2018/1479.html

R v W. 2017. S18. The defendant stabbed his sister’s estranged partner twice in broad day light on the Holloway Road, almost killing him. The victim refused to co-operate with the police and did not give evidence. The defendant was unanimously convicted.

R v L & B. 2017. OCD. Successfully prosecuted two defendants who were part of a large-scale conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/crime-court/jailed-drug-couriers-caught-with-600k-worth-of-cocaine-in-manor-park-1-5230981

R v G & Ors. 2017. County-Line case. Successful prosecution of 8 defendants who were party to a large-scale conspiracy to supply drugs to coastal towns in Essex. The case involved a large amount of telephone evidence.

R v R. 2017. Attempted Rape. The defendant, whose account was supported by the evidence of his sister, was convicted of attempting to rape his half-sister.

R v M. 2017. Sexual activity with a child family member. The defendant was accused of having groomed his stepdaughter and having sex with her from when she was in her early teens. He was unanimously convicted after a 9-day trial at which his wife, the complainant’s mother, gave evidence on his behalf.

R v S. 2017. Indecent assault/Gross indecency. Successful prosecution of retired academic (75 at the time of trial), who groomed an 11-year-old boy in Kingston in the mid-1970s. Unanimously convicted. Received 7 years imprisonment.

R v K. 2017. Possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Successful prosecution of defendant who chased rival gang members with a sawn-off shotgun through residential streets in Erith, South London.

R v A and 4 others. 2016. Successful prosecution of conspiracy to supply opium on a commercial scale throughout the UK. 

R v B. 2016. Sexual Activity with a Child Family Member. Stepfather of the complainant convicted of sexual activity with her when she was between the ages of 9 and 16.

R v R and two others. 2016. Causing Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent. The victim, who sustained a fractured skull, broken arm, fractured 5th vertebra and multiple cuts and bruises, was a married man who had been having an affair for several months with an aunt of the first two defendants. The third defendant was a close friend of the first two defendants, and also their aunt’s lodger.