Paul Phillips
Year of Call: 1991 LLB
Specialist Areas: Serious Crime, Homicide, Serious Violent Offences, Firearms, Large Drugs Related Offences, Serious Fraud & White Collar Crime
Biography"A Heavyweight Junior" - The Legal 500 2011
Recommended in Chambers UK 2012 (Crime - Leaders at the Bar)
Regarded as a hardworking and tenacious advocate, Mr Phillips is a specialist criminal defence practitioner instructed in many high-profile fraud and regulatory cases. He has considerable experience as leading and junior counsel in all areas of commercial and white collar crime including:
VAT & Revenue fraud
Company fraud
“Boiler Room” fraud
Mortgage fraud
Money Laundering
Furthermore, in serious and organised crime he has particular expertise in:
Murder
Large scale drug importations
Money laundering
People smuggling
Paul is currently instructed for the defence in two high profile murder cases and in several prosecutions brought by the SFO and Fraud Prosecution Service. He has, in the past, represented accountants, solicitors and other professionals charged with fraud.
He is approachable and available outside of normal working hours to assist solicitors with any aspect of a case.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Ranked in Chambers Directory 2011 (Crime); The Legal 500 2011 (Crime).
Cases
MURDER
R v Aijula – Maidstone Crown Court (The defendant was the brother of a man charged with murder. The Crown alleged that he had burnt his brother’s clothes and cleaned items used in the murder)
R v Ali – Central Criminal Court (The Crown alleged that the defendant was a member of a gang of 16 youths who killed two people in a street fight in Tooting)
R v Brown – Central Criminal Court (The defendant was charged with the murder of a shop keeper in Brixton during an argument over an orange. The case attracted considerable media attention)
R v Gordon – Central Criminal Court (Defendant was allegedly a member of a professional gang who were hired to kill a prison warden in south London)
R v Hayles – Central Criminal Court (The defendant, a youth, was jointly charged with another with the murder of a man in the course of a robbery)
R v Jermey – Central Criminal Court (The defendant was charged with the murder of his wife. The Crown’s case was that he strangled her and then set fire to the family home)
R v King – Central Criminal Court (The defendant was charged with Assisting an Offender, in that she disposed of items used to commit a murder)
R v Lattimore – St Albans Crown Court (The defendant was allegedly a member of a professional gang who kidnapped, tortured and decapitated the deceased over a drug debt)
R v Mason – Central Criminal Court (The defendant, a youth, was allegedly a member of a gang who killed a member of another gang in Hammersmith)
R v Olokun – Central Criminal Court (The defendant was charged with the murder of an architect in the course of a robbery)
R v Preddie – Central Criminal Court (Leading Counsel representing the defendant a youth, who was allegedly a member of a gang who killed a member of another gang in Tooting)
R v Thompson – Woolwich Crown Court (The defendant was allegedly a drug smuggler who disemboweled a drug courier in order to obtain drugs)
R v Walters – Central Criminal Court (The defendant and another were charged with the murder of a drug dealer in Brixton)
R v AD (Allegation of attempted murder, a case involving the use of sulphuric acid in an attempt to commit an "honour killing")
MONEY LAUNDERING & FRAUD
R v Attaya – Croydon Crown Court (Leading counsel. An international conspiracy to defraud the central clearing banks of £3.9m)
R v Buransky – Snaresbrook Crown Court (Conspiracy to commit large scale commercial burglaries of film and music studios)
R v Dinn – Maidstone Crown Court (Leading counsel. Commercial importation of tobacco from Spain, and the evasion of duty)
R v Gordon – Kingston Crown Court (Leading counsel. A case involving the large scale facilitation of illegal immigrants from the Caribbean into the UK and the subsequent laundering of the proceeds)
R v Haynes – Liverpool Crown Court (Conspiracy to commercially counterfeit DVDs and CDs. A prosecution brought by the British Phonographic Industry)
R v Holt – Southwark Crown Court (Leading counsel. An international case of “car ringing”, whereby false import certificates were obtained for stolen high value cars)
R v Powell – Kingston Crown Court (Leading counsel. The case involved allegations of international money laundering involving the proceeds of commercial burglary)
R v Rankin – Canterbury Crown Court (Leading counsel. Money laundering via bureau de change in London. This case is reported as the landmark case of R v Montilla HL[2005] 1 All E. R. 113)
R v Utku – Kingston Crown Court (The prosecution was based upon a 15 month covert investigation into “people smuggling” from Turkey and the subsequent “laundering” of the proceeds)
R v Yazdanian – Southwark Crown Court (Leading counsel. “Boiler room” fraud, involving the sale of fraudulent shares and breaches of FISMA regulations)
DRUGS
R v Adams – Reading Crown Court (Leading counsel. The case involved the large scale commercial importation of cannabis from the Netherlands)
R v Dezuwu – Reading Crown Court (Importation of cannabis from Spain disguised in air conditioning units. A case involving voluminous and complicated cell site analysis and telephone data)
R v Fahey – Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court (Leading counsel. The case involved the large scale commercial importation of cannabis from the Netherlands)
R v Mask kit – Liverpool Crown Court (Case involving the commercial importation of Class A drugs, over a period of nine months, from the Netherlands)
R v Mitchell – Ipswich Crown Court (A conspiracy to import Class A drugs from the Netherlands. The prosecution relied upon evidence obtained from covert recording devices)
R v Shannon – Reading Crown Court (Leading counsel. A case involving commercial supply on a national scale of Class A drugs. The prosecution was based upon months of covert audio and video surveillance)