Cases Portfolio

R v KT

Case conducted at Southwark Crown Court involving the laundering of many millions of pounds into foreign currency. Value in excess of £25 million. Defendant acquitted on appeal.

R v MS

Described as the largest prosecution of an individual involving firearms crime in Manchester. MS was alleged to be the organiser and financier of a "firearms factory" responsible for the suggested importation and conversion/modification of over 260 handguns.

The trial turned totally on the evidence of 2 witnesses, namely the "engineer" who had modified the weapons as imported, a "friend" of the defendant who claimed to have been present when the defendant made a quasi-confession and a single fingerprint on a recorded delivery slip.

The Crown sought to place reliance upon a Crimewatch style programme which recreated the offence alleged against the defendant and included interviews with family members and victims themselves of the modified weapons. The programme entitled "Manhunt" was played to the jury in full without editing.

Following a lengthy trial at Manchester Crown Court, the Defendant was convicted.

Granted Leave to Appeal Conviction on the basis that the programme was highly prejudicial to the defendant receiving a fair trial given tha tthe content was inadmissible, the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal which has now been referred to the European Court of Human Rights.

R v CC

A £23million VAT fraud conducted by HMRC in which CC was the principal defendant and organiser. The fraud was conducted in the South and North of England.

Such was the extent of the fraud and the number of defendants concerned, that the proceedings were divided in two with one trial being conducted in London and a separate trial thereafter in Birmingham.

The fraud involved the use of missing traders, foreign exports and "paper cover" on a hitherto unseen scale.

R v MC, JC & PC

Represented all defendants charged with conspiracy to blackmail and conspiracy to make false and misleading statements to Trading Standards. Value involved in excess of £4 milliion. Indictment totalled in excess of 60 counts. All defendants acquitted on all counts following a 2 month trial at Luton Crown Court.

R v SW

Represented yardie defendant on allegation of murder on appeal. Conviction quashed and awarded compensation from the Home Office on a discretionary basis. Represented in multiple allegation of Rape and Grievous Bodily Harm. Acquitted at trial.

R v J & PR

Two defendants in respect of an allegation that they had shot and killed a rival gang member.

Both successfully acquitted at the Central Criminal Court.

R v PS

A member of the travelling community, PS was accused of the murder of another traveller by a single gunshot wound to the heart.

As a consequence of investigations by defence expert pathologist and firearms officer, we were able to establish that the muzzle velocity of the weapon was such that if the bullet had not travelled between the rib cartiallege but had struck a rib, the victim would have suffered no more than bruising consistent with an offence of actual bodily harm. Defendant acquitted on the basis of the defence of accident.

R v JP

JP was the owner of substantial timeshare holdings in the Canaries and had been convicted of fraud following a trial in which he represented himself. JP faced confiscation proceedings relating to his assets said to be in excess of £103 million.

The Prosecution commenced confiscation proceedings by service of a Notice of their intention to confiscate.

We were instructed at this point to represent the defendant in confiscation proceedings due to be conducted before the Central Criminal Court. The value involved at £103 million was such that if the defendant were ordered to pay this sum and failed to do so, the default sentence would be10 years imprisonment in addition to the 8 years he was serving for the index offence of fraud.

Argued that the Notice served by the Crown was defective as it was not in accordance with the Act failing to denote the penal nature of the consequences of non payment, att the confiscation hearing conducted in the Central Criminal Court, the Notice was ruled as void but the Crown were given Leave to serve a new Notice at that stage. On the basis of such Notice, the defendant was ordered to pay a sum in excess of £90 million.

On appeal held that the new Notice was invalid and not capable of service at that point in time. That the original Notice was invalid due to the failure to specify its penal nature. Accordingly, the Confiscation Order for over £90 million in favour of the Treasury would be quashed. The defendant accordingly was required to pay compensation but did not face confiscation proceedings.

This was a landmark case subsequently overturned by the rare sitting of a 5 Appeal Judge Court in the case of Sekkon holding that in future such "technical" defences would not be permitted as a basis for avoiding prosecution/confiscation!

R v DA

A defendant in Operation Rouse involving the prosecution of 27 individuals. This was a series of mortgage frauds conducted throughout the South of England and Wales.

Described in its time as the largest mortgage fraud enquiry conducted in the UK. This involved the investigation into a large number of professional persons in which this practice acted for the mortgage broker said to have been at the heart of the fraud, the accountant and surveyor. The value of this prosecution was in excess of £25 million. Such was the size and extent of this fraud, that it took in excess of 6 years for all three defendants to be tried.

R v Peter Storrie & Another

PS was charged in his capacity as the former CEO of Portsmouth City Football Club with two counts of Tax Evasion relating to payments made to two former players of the Club.

The first payment was said to be a disguised signing on fee avoiding PAYE and NI that would otherwise have been payable, the second evasion of tax on a termination payment to another player whose contract with the Club was ending. Originally the trial involved three defendants, the two other defendants facing their own unique charges.

Ultimately the trial proceeded against PS and another only and resulted in his successful acquittal after a lengthy contested trial at Southwark Crown Court (October 2011). A unique case conducted against a Premiership football club and its Officers. Over 35,000 pages of evidence was served excluding another 55,000 pages approximately of unused material. Despite the fact that the trial took over a month, the jury acquitted within 3 hours of retiring! A personal Order for PS's personal costs and all legal fees was made.

R v JA

Represented two defendants charged with conspiracy to evade Customs and Excise Duty payable on a series of cigarette importations spanning a 2 year period. Allegations unique as it involved corrupt Customs Officers allowing loads to pass into the UK. Value in excess of £69 million. Defendants acquitted following trial.

R v WB & BM

Represented two defendants charged with conspiracy to evade Customs and Excise duty payable on the importation of container loads of cigarettes and alcohol.

Case involved corrupt practices by Customs Officers over an 18 month period. Loss to Revenue put in excess of £40 million. WB, principal defendant in the allegations, acquitted following re-trial.

R v WH & Others

Serious allegations involving a total of three defendants alleged to have been responsible for the death of an entire family comprising of five victims. Described as being the most extensive police criminal investigation conducted at that time involving multiple agencies and task forces throughout the UK.

R v ST

Defendant charged with strangling his wife. Defendant denied allegation. Defence instructed Professor DJ Pounder, head of department of forensic medicine at Dundee University to examine cause of death. It was established that the victim had not been strangled as suggested but that the injuries were caused upon pathology and, as a consequence, the case against the defendant was discontinued one day prior to the trial beginning.

R v MP

Accused of murdering his girlfriend. An alibi was raised by the defendant. Defence investigations revealed that the victim had not been bludgeoned to death as suggested, but had been shot once to the head at close quarters with a low calibre firearm. Case unique in that the causation of the murder was changed one day prior to committal. Case discharged at old style committal but later featured in the prosecution of the pathologist who was convicted of perverting the course of justice.

R v TJ

Case prosecuted under POCA provisions involving Money Service Bureaux said to be involved in the illegal laundering of over £60 million internationally. TJ principal Defendant operating an MSB for and on behalf of other MSBs (money services bureaux) remitting funds abroad said to be the proceeds of crime.