Practice Profile

A specialist criminal, white collar serious fraud and commercial crime advocate who is regularly instructed by nationally known firms of solicitors on behalf of their clients. His principal speciality in recent years has been representing individuals and companies in criminal proceedings or associated tribunals and giving advice in advance of those proceedings during the investigative stages. He has extensive experience in SFO cases, in particular defending individuals alleged to have committed cartel activity, serious revenue and money laundering offences and fraud. He regularly advises on and appears in confiscation cases.

He advises on regulatory and criminal investigations being undertaken by the FSA.

He comes to this work with a background of ‘heavyweight’ crime, having appeared in a number of serious multi-handed cases of murder, robberies, drugs and other related crimes.

He is presently instructed in cases concerning:
• Cartel allegations in the Pharmaceutical Case, being prosecuted by the SFO.
• Cartel allegations in the BA / Virgin price fixing case being prosecuted by the OFT.
• Significant fraud on the Department of Education.
• An advanced fee fraud being prosecuted by the SFO.
• The first FSA ‘boiler house’ prosecution in the UK.
• Advising on the various FSA enquiries
• Various significant confiscation cases.

Cases

Serious Fraud

R. V. HAUXWELL SMITH & OTHERS (THE IKEA FRAUD).

Instructed on behalf of the first and principal defendant in a major alleged fraud against IKEA. The case was prosecuted by the SFO. It concerned an a highly complex allegation of fraud by under and non delivery of stock to the value of £16 million over a two year period which required detailed analysis of e-data, stock and movement records. There were also significant allegations of corruption to individuals working within IKEA in excess of £1.5 million.

The case took three and a half years to come to trial.

Associated appeals: The issue of disclosure and preparatory hearings resulted in R. v. H [2007] UKHL 7


R. v. WATTS & OTHERS (THE LANDFILL TAX FRAUD)

Instructed on behalf of the defence for a trial lasting 7 months in 2005. He thereafter advised on appeal on behalf of the first appellant charged and convicted of a conspiracy to defraud. This concerned the diversion and use of funds obtained under the Landfill Tax Regulations 1996 incentive scheme. The case was prosecuted by the SFO. The appeal against conviction was allowed.


R. V. MEHTA & OTHERS

Instructed in 2007 as a led junior as part of a new defence team brought in to deal with significant and complicated confiscation proceedings under POCA. The appeal against conviction arose out of a significant participation, as a principal, in an international MTIC fraud.

Appeal reported R. v Mehta Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) [2008] EWCA Crim 1491
Carousel fraud; Money laundering; Sentence length

R.V. F & OTHERS
Advanced fee fraud with international evidence. The legality of the British Police to obtain the evidence in the way they did gave rise to an anticipated abuse of process argument. The prosecution, in advance of that argument, invited the court to stay the proceedings.

R. V. DARREN BROWN & OTHERS
Conspiracy to defraud and fraudulent trading allegations arising out of two furniture manufacturing companies prosecuted by the SFO. This followed an earlier inquiry into and prosecution of Mr Brown by the SFO for Chesterfield F.C. case.

R. v. B and ANOTHER
Conspiracy to defraud and corruption concerning the contracts for the provision of machinery to the London Underground.

R. V. FITZSIMMONS & OTHERS
Fraudulent trading of a two companies through mis-selling of debt recovery to companies when the debt was not recoverable under the Insolvency legislation. Prosecuted by the DTI.

R. V. RAYMOND BROWN & OTHERS
Prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, the case concerned mortgage frauds committed on residential properties in the North Yorkshire area which came to light after the collapse of a solicitors firm in Bradford. Mr Brown, the only professional at trial, worked in the solicitors conveyancing department at the time and handled the various transactions in question. The case involved a substantial amount of disclosure dealing with the OSS from the Law Society.

R. V. THOMPSON & ANOTHER
I represented an accountant who held the position of finance director of a window company. He was charged with stealing from the company by various means. The crux of the case revolved around tracing substantial disclosure from the Prosecution as well as third party, the failure by the prosecution to follow the AG guidelines and an abuse of process submission supported by significant disclosure the defence had unearthed.

R. V. SUDDIQI & OTHERS
A Chartered Accountant charged with a conspiracy to defraud over £1million, who was prosecuted by the Inland Revenue. A complex case that revolved around the legality of tax positions of clients both on and off shore.

R. V. REID & OTHERS
The Rotherham Council Fraud. Mr Reid was prosecuted by the special casework directorate of the CPS, as an ex Leader of the Council he was involved in a large scale conspiracy to defraud, involving the misuse of public funds and misfeasance in public office.

R. V. BROWN & OTHERS
The Dunblane Firearms Legislation Surrender Compensation Scheme fraud. Mr Brown, as a leading shooting sportsman was one of the only private individuals in the country to be prosecuted by the Special Casework Directorate for claiming too much money for the weapons he surrendered under the national amnesty. He was prosecuted alongside Police Officers from South Yorkshire who managed and manipulated the scheme to the advantage of the surrendering party. Mr Brown’s case was stopped following a substantial and successful abuse of process submission, revolving around article 6 and 7 ECHR and the nature of the secondary legislation giving rise to the scheme.

R. V. FOYLE & OTHERS
Fraudulent trading, prosecuted by the DTI. A large fresh food sales conspiracy to defraud, involving just under £1 million pounds worth of goods and services being stripped from a well established direct supplier to the fresh fish market.

Murder

R. V. NEGROTTI & OTHERS
The ‘Vow of Silence Case’. A Hells Angel called Megson was convicted of murder as he said nothing at his trial and offered no defence, he maintained a vow of silence that his chapter had required of him. After 5 years of his life sentence the BBC ‘Rough Justice’ team reinvestigated the case. They traced his girlfriend who ultimately did break that vow. They broadcast the programme. The new evidence resulted in an appeal against conviction in the Court of Appeal. Megson’s conviction was quashed on her ‘fresh’ evidence and he was released. I represented one of the Hells Angel’s gang who had accompanied Megson on the night of the murder. After the Appeal my client was subsequently arrested and charged with the murder. The case was a substantial and historical re-investigation of a murder (and earlier murder trial) which involved considerable issues of third party legal disclosure from the BBC.

R. V. TOMLINSON
A 16 year old boy charged with the murder of another youth who attacked him with a Samurai sword. The client had significant mental health issues and very low intelligence.

R. V. MORRISON & ANOTHER
The ‘home made bullets’ case. Morrison was charged with a double murder of two drugs dealers in the North of England, both shot at blank rang in the head and the related attempted murder of a stockbroker in Surrey. The killings were achieved with a home made gun and home made bullets. The case concerned the first ever use of scientific analysis of lead and its relative index factors to link two crime scenes. The Prosecution required experts from the FBI to establish the necessary links. This was a highly complex case, in terms of the pathology, the forensic analysis and the many hundreds of arch levers of disclosure concerning possible rival suspects.

R. V. PATEL
Represented a young man charged with the murder of his mother, father and one twin sister. The case had very complex pathology and forensic analysis. The defence preparations involved dealing with the three leading world experts on partial memory syndrome and amnesic episodes.

R. V. OLUM
Represented a young graduate charged with a murder and three attempted murders. He used his car as a weapon aiming it at a group of young people he had just dropped off after a night out.

Large Scale Drugs Conspiracies

R. V. KIERNAN & OTHERS
The largest scale drugs importation into the UK ever. The defendants were charged with various conspiracies ranging over 4 years to import cocaine in excess of 4 tonnes from South America via a number of sailing boats. The case concerned substantial observations by Customs & Excise, a large volume of telephone traffic (in excess of 1 million telephone calls between defendants alone), international and national covert taping of defendants, retrospective navigational evidence, forecast and hindcast weather evidence and evidence of horse race fixing on the largest scale with the alleged corruption of jockeys and needling of horses. There were substantial disclosure issues throughout the trial, with continuing and numerous PII hearings (and disclosure), material from MI5, MI6 and the Jockey Club Security Department. The trial lasted 14 months.

R. V. FORRESTER & OTHERS
A large scale drugs importation into Kent prosecuted by Customs & Excise, involving at the time the largest known quantity of seized cannabis (2 tonnes) and amphetamine (70 kilos) to be traced in the UK.

R. V. WRIGHT & OTHERS
A large scale and multi-handed drugs conspiracy based on one years observation of a gang involving the importation of cannabis from Morroco via Southern Spain and then sailed via boat into the UK. Prosecuted by Customs & Excise it was one of the first UK cases in which they sought to use covert tap evidence from an outside jurisdiction in evidence in the UK.

R. V. BERRY & OTHERS
A large scale drugs and cigarettes importation case prosecuted by Customs & Excise, which involved a client who maintained he acted on behalf MI5 and then when abroad the CIA. Substantial PII hearings and disclosure issues arose. A complicating factor was waiting for the client whilst he was held on double murder charges in Afghanistan before he was extracted out the country by the UK government.

R. V. FORBES & ANOTHER
Drugs importation of £1 million worth of cocaine into North Yorkshire following a years observations by the Organised and Serious Crime Police Unit.

R. V. HEADLEY & ANOTHER
A substantial drugs importation case from Jamaica via Holland. This case resulted in a custody time limit application for Headley, which was judicially reviewed and reported as establishing an important guiding principle on such applications, see R. v. Headley ex parte Sheffield Crown Court [2000] 1. Cr.App.R.1 D.C.

R. V. DOMAN & OTHERS
The largest Yorkshire cannabis cultivation factory ever found. All the defendants were charged with a large scale conspiracy. The case involved a substantial analysis of telephone and lifestyle evidence.


Others Serious Crime


R. V. S & OTHERS
A covert operation authorised directly by the Attorney General which was conducted on corrupt Police officers and their connections to crime families in Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield. There was a vast amount of PII material and covert telephone bugging in this case, which lasted for 2 years and included material from cloned mobile telephone evidence held by suspected officers. The entire trial process was held in camera.

R. V. FLETCHER
Represented a headmaster of a primary school charged with historical sexual abuse of children.

R. V. FELLOWS
Attempted stranger murder. A travelling salesman accused of clubbing a 16 year old girl over the head with a hammer 16 times and leaving her for dead.

R. V. KEATING & OTHERS
The largest multi-handed car ‘ringing’ case in the country in scale and value of 4 x4 motor cars involved. The case raised significant issues of disclosure and police practice which eventually was argued as an abuse of the courts’ process. Police officers involved in this case were later prosecuted themselves for perjury.

R. V. DEB & OTHERS
A large scale credit card cloning fraud by two brothers who owned and ran a restaurant in South Yorkshire where credit cards were compromised and thereafter used for illegal purchases.


R. V. G ATKINSON & ANOTHER
A sequence of serious Post Office robberies in which a gang held rural Post Office owners at gun point, gagged and bound overnight waiting for time locks on safes to be released. There were substantial issues of disclosure – as a rival gang had been convicted and then escaped from custody continuing to commit similar copy cat attacks around the entire North of England.

R. V. P ATKINSON
Attempted murder. The defendant forced his way into the home of his estranged wife and cut her throat from ear to ear leaving her for dead. The incident was witnessed by a 4 year old who was, despite his aged, permitted to give evidence via video link to the jury.