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 is a leading junior who prosecutes and defends in cases of great complexity and gravity. He is meticulous in his preparation of cases and a relentless trial advocate. He presents his cases in a clear and compelling manner. He is entrusted by the CPS to prosecute sensitive cases receiving widespread press attention.    

Paul 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

2024

R v S - D, a dangerous and manipulative prowler, convicted of rape.

https://x.com/CourtNewsUK/status/1784891716132127127

R v WB - R convicted of numerous historic serious sexual offences against a nephew and two nieces.  

2023

R v O - A two-complainant historic sexual abuse (father on stepson and biological daughter) trial lasting three weeks at the Old Bailey. The case involved very grave allegations of abuse covering a period of thirty years up until 2018. The defendant received a sentence of life imprisonment.  

R v A & Ors - Leading junior. Originally a ten-handed courier fraud trial, with 21 victims. At trial, at St Albans Crown Court, lasting 4-weeks, there were six defendants - the others have pleaded guilty - all of whom were convicted, save for one, where the jury hung.

2022

R v NS - Leading junior. Eight complainants all alleged rape and other serious sexual offences committed when they attended the defendant’s flat with a view to their being interviewed as escorts. The initial police investigation was very poor - a number of the victims were told on several occasions the police had decided not to prosecute. D, highly manipulative and who did his utmost to disrupt the trial, was unanimously convicted of over 20 serious sexual offences and also offences of controlling prostitution for gain, after an 8-week trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court. The case gained national publicity. The defendant was imprisoned for 31 years.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/19/were-not-all-broken-the-woman-who-pursued-her-rapist-for-five-years-and-won

R v PF - Operation Sheppey - Multiple-victim case involving rape and other serious sexual offences against boys aged 5-16 between the years 1985-2020. The defendant received a sentence of life imprisonment.

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

2021

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

2020

R v O - Attempted rape. Victim never identified. The case relied solely on CCTV.

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

R v WS - Facilitation of illegal entry.

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

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

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

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

2019

R v G - Two stranger rapes committed in 2011 and 2018. D received a sentence of life imprisonment.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9216233/married-businessman-life-sentence-raping-two-women/

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

R v S - 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 - 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

2024

R v B - D accused of raping a woman of brief acquaintance having walked into her flat uninvited and found her asleep on her a sofa. The defence was consent. Unanimously acquitted.

R v D - D accused of possession of a firearm found 20 yards from where he was arrested by police officers after a chase. He was also found in possession of matching cartridges and his DNA was on the handle grip, trigger and trigger guard of the firearm. Unanimously acquitted.

R v Q - 25-year-old Columbian national accused of penetrative sexual activity with his cousin’s 15-year-old sister within minutes of having met her. The defence was that he believed she was over 16 and that she had initiated the sexual activity in order to show off about it to her friends. Unanimously acquitted.

R v B - D tried for raping his estranged partner. Vaginal penetration took place while the complainant was asleep. D made some damaging admissions in subsequent text messages. Acquitted.

2023. - R v F - D was stopped southbound on the M6 in an intelligence lead operation with 4 kgs of cocaine in his car boot in a package he was observed by officers to collect from a third party in Liverpool. The defence was that D was ignorant of the true nature of the contents of the package. The defendant was unanimously acquitted.

2022. - R V M - D was a practising barrister who stood trial for obtaining property by deception. In the early 2000s he had applied to the Corporation of London for council accommodation but had omitted, in several application forms and associated documents to declare that he was, at the time he made the applications, the owner of two residential properties. The issue in the trial was whether, when making the declarations, D was being dishonest. After a five-day trial D was acquitted.

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

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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.