Barristers

Cases of Interest

General and Serious Crime

R v Robinson & Others, May 2010. Junior counsel representing defendant accused of being concerned in the importation of nearly 12 kilograms of cocaine at 100% purity, with a street value in excess of £4million.  The case was investigated by officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency and it involved the use of corrupt baggage handlers working at Heathrow Airport to remove packages of cocaine from the Airport. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10840761

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1299436/Crook-stole-Victoria-Beckham-jailed-helping-smuggle-cocaine.html

R v. Smith and others, September 2009. Defence counsel in high-value conspiracy to handle stolen plant equipment and ship it to Europe for sale (value of conspiracy in the region of £300,000).

R v. Tanner, August 2009. Defence counsel for defendant accused of kidnapping, falsely imprisoning and threatening to kill his partner.

R v. ZW and others, June 2009. Defence counsel for defendant accused of street robbery following which the victim died.

R v. Ashraf, June 2009. Defence counsel for defendant accused of falsely imprisoning, assaulting and threatening to murder his accountant by setting him on fire.

R v. Waleed, April 2009. Defence counsel in contempt trial of defendant failing to attend as an eye-witness in an attempted murder case.

R v. Mustapha, November 2008. Defence counsel in high value conspiracy to evade duty payable on over one million cigarettes illegally imported into the UK (duty evaded in region of £200,000).

R v. Bendall, September 2008. Defence counsel in case involving the supply of drugs to prisoners.

R v. Jones, May 2008. Defence counsel for mentally vulnerable defendant accused of shooting eight-year-old boy in the chest with an air rifle (wounding with intent near-fatal injuries).

R v. Akinola, February 2008. Defence counsel in conspiracy to supply kilogramme-quantities of cocaine and heroin arising from undercover police operation.

R v. Tran, November 2007. Defence counsel in large-scale cannabis cultivation case.

R v. Morrison, October 2007. Prosecution junior in case involving police constable in possession of a large quantity of prohibited ammunition.

R v. Anderson, September 2007. Defence counsel for main defendant in armed robbery of a betting shop.

R v. Currie, August 2007. Prosecution counsel in case involving defendant in possession of several firearms, offensive weapons and live ammunition in public.

R v. Lavender, August 2007. Defence counsel for defendant anaesthetist technician accused of stealing thousands of pounds-worth of restricted drugs from NHS.

R v. Shalloe, June, 2007. Defence counsel for defendant accused of theft of over £30,000 from NHS employer.

R v. Sines and others, November 2006. Defence junior in trial concerning a sophisticated, organised conspiracy to rob business premises of high-value computer chips (armed with firearms).

Fraud and Financial Crime

R v. Liggins and others, February 2010. Defence junior counsel in multi-million pound false accounting case involving a long-standing fraud committed by the General Manager of the South Yorkshire Trading Standards Unit against the unit and Sheffield City Council. The mechanism of the fraud involved the council paying high-value sales invoices for expensive calibration equipment that had not been purchased. Some of this money was then used by the defendants to purchase equipment whilst the majority was returned to Sheffield City Council under the guise of 'calibration and related services'. In addition the defendants retained a management fee. The effect of this false accounting exercise was that it gave the unit the appearance of being financially sound whereas its expenditure vastly exceeded its income. The fraud was discovered when the main perpetrator was found dead at his home address. The South Yorkshire Trading Standards Unit was seen as a global centre of excellence for metrology and calibration and its General Manager revered as a genius responsible for its success. However, it was discovered that the unit's operating losses amounted to some £14million, the cost of which had to be borne by the four local authorities responsible for its management. The unusual aspect of this fraud was that the principal motivation for it was not for the General Manager to make money but was purely vanity; he wanted his unit to be seen as the foremost metrology laboratory in the world and he wanted to be attributable for its success.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/BREAKING-14-million-councils-scam.6105834.jp

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Getting-the-measure-of-genius.6107779.jp

R v. Rashman, April 2008. Defence junior counsel in multi-million pound global advance-fee fraud conspiracy. Fraud involved a company operating from Manchester offering high-value loans for development projects across the world on condition of the payment of application fees, appraisal fees and commitment fees without any money being loaned to the applicant.

http://cms.met.police.uk/news/convictions/fraudsters_convicted_of_conspiracy_to_defraud

R v. Rowledge and others, September 2007. Defence junior counsel in high-value confiscation proceedings (in excess of £1million).

R v. Smith, February 2007. Defence counsel in high-value benefit fraud case concerning defendant accused of managing a massage parlour from his home address whilst claiming benefits over several years (twenty-one count indictment with eighteen counts stayed at close of prosecution case).

Regulatory

Appeals against refusal of SIA licences.

Road Traffic

R v JJ, February 2010. Defence counsel for defendant accused of death by careless driving following a serious multiple collision on the M6 motorway.

R v. RH, December 2009. Defence counsel for defendant accused of causing death by careless driving.

VOSA v. SMH Fleet Solutions Ltd, May 2009. Defence counsel for defendant company accused of fifty breaches of drivers' hours regulations and recording regulations.