Practice Profile

A diverse criminal defence practise including appellate work, homicide, drug importations, fraud, terrorism and general human rights cases.

Prisoners’ rights work including oral hearings before the Parole Board with an emphasis on life sentence prisoners.

Appellate work includes the reported cases of R v Bowman (The Times, April 2006), which concerned expert pathology evidence, and R v Howard (The Times, April 1996) which allowed time on remand to be taken into account for extradited discretionary life sentence prisoners.

Human Rights cases with an emphasis on Article 10 (freedom of expression)

Cases

Criminal Cases of interest include:


R v Howard, Court of Appeal

Appeal against the length of the minimum term in relation to an extradited discretionary life sentence prisoner and time to be taken into consideration on remand whilst outside the jurisdiction.

Case reported in The Times, April 1996
Article, New Law Journal, “A Lacunae closed for discretionary life sentence prisoners.” 19 April 1996 p.568-569



R v Bowman, Court of Appeal, 6 day Appeal against Conviction for Murder.

Appeared on behalf of the appellant in an historic murder appeal, which focused on the accuracy of the conclusions reached by the prosecution’s pathologist as to whether the deceased was strangled. The deceased had died in 1978 and the post-mortem recorded death from alcohol and drugs. Twenty-three years later the body was exhumed, and the second post-mortem revealed that the deceased had been strangled. Six pathologists were called by the defence and one of the major issues in the case was whether it was right to diagnose a finding of manual strangulation where there were bi-lateral fractures to the neck without any other physical manifestations and where there existed an alternative cause of death.

Case reported in The Times, April 2006




R v Dixon, Court of Appeal.

Appeal against sentence in relation to handling stolen antique goods including two Thomas Thompian clocks, worth half-a-million-pounds.

Case reported in Current Sentencing Practice at B6-53BO5


R v Smith, Kingston Crown Court

A six month case, which was prosecuted by Customs and Excise involving eight defendants charged with fraudulent evasion of duty on cigarettes.


R v Young, Central Criminal Court

A five-handed murder case lasting five months: The case involved an ongoing feud between a group of Kosovan Albanians and nightclub security men, which culminated in one of the security officers being attacked. That same night, the security staff approached a house, a house they believed to be occupied by the Kosovan men, the door was broken down and the male occupant was stabbed repeatedly. It became apparent, very shortly thereafter, that the wrong house had been targeted and the victim was one of mistaken identity. One of the defendants was convicted of murder and the others, including Mr Young, were acquitted of murder.


R v Smith, Maidstone Crown Court

Represented a serving prisoner charged with offences of corruption at Elmley Prison.
Legal arguments focused on the admissibility of taped calls from within the prison, and whether those phones were part of a private or public system.


R v O’Neill, Southwark Crown Court

Anti-abortion activist charged with outraging public decency.
Pictures of aborted foetuses were displayed in public as part of a
campaign against abortion. Previously, attempts had been made to prosecute anti-abortion activists under the Public Order Act 1986. This was the first case whereby a charge was laid for outraging public decency in relation to an anti abortion campaigning event. Submissions and skeleton arguments were prepared in relation to Article 10. The case was submitted to the Attorney-General’s office for a Nolle; the prosecution eventually offered no evidence.

Case reported in The Guardian Newspaper, July 2004.





R v Hardie, Kingston Crown Court,

An historic rape trial involving five complainants, which the Crown alleged spanned a period of 35 years. An abuse of process argument was advanced in relation to the fairness of prosecuting such a case so long after critical evidence had disappeared and vital witnesses had died.


R v Kilty, Central Criminal Court,

Attempted murder and attempted rapes. The case involved a number of attacks on women travelling home on their own late at night.


R v Simpson, Canterbury Crown Court

A money laundering trial whereby a point of law was advanced at a preparatory hearing, which eventually reached the House of Lords in the case of R v Montilla and Others [2005 1 Cr. App. R. 26 ] [Montilla being one of the nine defendants in this trial]. The point in issue was whether it was necessary for the Crown to prove that the property being converted was in fact the proceeds, in the case of the 1994 Act, of Drug Trafficking and, in the case of the 1988 Act, of crime. The House of Lords ruled in favour of the defence, that it was necessary for the Crown to prove.


R v Dorling, Central Criminal Court,

A multi-handed gang-land murder case, which involved the multiple stabbing of a former prison officer at his home address.



R v Fernandes, Central Criminal Court,

Three defendants charged with offences under the Terrorism Act 2003. The case involved an undercover operation by the News of the World’s Fake Sheikh, Mazher Mahmood, who posed as an Arab Muslim looking to sell a substance called red mercury. The prosecution had alleged that the defendants had set about trying to broker a sale of red mercury to an unidentified Muslim customer from the Middle East. A six week abuse of process argument took place between October – December 2005 followed by a three month trial whereby all three defendants were acquitted by the jury on 25 July 2006.