Case Examples
Please feel free to have a look at some examples of the types of cases that we handle. The list is of course non-exhaustive but provides a general idea of the types of work that we have handled previously.
Homicide
Case One - we defended a client charged with murder. The case was featured in local and national media. The client was alleged to have been part of a group who stabbed and killed the victim outside of a fast-food restaurant. The case involved DNA and cell site evidence.
Case Two - we defended a client who was alleged to have shot and killed another person using a shotgun. The case involved complex evidence, including expert evidence relating to the trajectory of the bullet from the firearm.
Case Three - we defended a client accused of being involved in the murder of an alleged rival drug dealer. The murder was alleged to have been orchestrated by a serving prisoner, contacting his associated from his prison phone. The case involved cell site evidence, other forensic evidence, and prison phone recordings.
Fraud
Case One - we defended a client accused of being part of a large fraud in which fake redundancy payment claims were, totalling over half a million pounds. The case involved complicated financial evidence and a wealth of other electronic evidence.
Case Two - we defended a client accused of being part of a large, multi-million pound fraud in which investors were persuaded to invest in wine which either did not exist, or was never purchased.
Case Three – we defended a client accused of an investment fraud. The case was particularly notable for the use of sophisticated software which mimicked the appearance of legitimate trading platforms, while no trading was actually taking place.
Sexual offences
Case One – we defended a client accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in a public park. The case attracted local and national media attention. The case was notable as being one of the cases where important evidence was withheld. The case was dropped once this evidence eventually came to light.
Case Two – we defended a client accused of sexually abusing his five-year-old stepson. The allegation was made around fifteen years after the alleged incident had occurred. After we made applications for disclosure, the Prosecution revealed that the accuser had made around five other complaints of abuse against other people, many of which were proven to be false allegations. The case was dropped.
Case Three - we defended a client accused of historic sexual offences. The alleged incidents happened while the client was a teacher, around forty to fifty years before the complaint was made. The case was complex because, due to the length of time between alleged incident and the complaint, many of the potential witnesses were dead, and there was very little documentary evidence available.
Conspiracy
Case One – we defended a client who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle. Following his sentencing hearing, we persuaded the Judge that a mistake had been made in respect of the client’s sentence. The Judge agreed to reduce the client’s sentence, without the need for a formal appeal.
Case Two – we defended a client accused of conspiring to produce and to supply class A drugs. The client was stopped by police with a large amount of cash, which the client explained represented the proceeds of ticket sales for a charity boxing event. The case involved an enormous amount of electronic evidence.
Case Three - we defended a client accused of being part of a conspiracy to steal. The case involved a plan to break into lockers at health centres, and steal car keys and then cars from the centres. We successfully persuaded the Prosecution to accept guilty pleas to limited individual offences, removing the client from the alleged conspiracy.
Drug offences
Case One – we defended a client accused of being involved in the supply of class A and B drugs. The client was particularly vulnerable and thought to be the victim of Modern Slavery. We referred the case via the National Referral Mechanism for identifying cases of Moden Slavery. Following a positive finding, the Prosecution dropped all charges against our client.
Case Two - we defended a client accused of being involved in the supply of a huge amount of cannabis. Following a raid numerous crates of cannabis inside premises. The case involved expert telephone evidence. The case was particularly notable for the defective disclosure process, and the case was covered in national news media.
Case Three - we defended several clients charged as part of a large police operation to catch class drug dealers. Many individuals were caught selling class A drugs. In many cases, we were able to successfully argue that our clients should receive suspended sentences, rather than immediate prison sentences.
Robbery and kidnap
Case One - We defended a client charged with a series of ’cash-in-transit’ robberies, in which the offenders were alleged to have laid in wait for the drivers, before attacking them and stealing the physical cash. It was also alleged that weapons were used.
Case Two - We defended two clients charged with kidnap (amongst other offences). The Prosecution alleged that the victim had been dragged from his car, bundled into the back of a van, taken to another person’s house and tortured whilst there. The case involved a huge volume of evidence, and the trial lasted several weeks.
Case Three - We defendant a client charged with a robbery committed against the client’s housing officer, who it turned out was in a relationship with the client. The case was particularly complex as the client was originally deemed unfit to plead and stand trial, before his mental state improved later and he was able to participate in proceedings. We secured a plea bargain whereby the client pleaded guilty to theft and the robbery was dropped.
Assault and other violent offences
Case One - We defended a client charged with ABH. The client was alleged to have violently assaulted another person, after the dog belonging to the other person attacked both the client’s wife and dogs. The case was notable for the use of expert veterinary and pathological evidence.
Case Two – We defended a client accused of assaulting his dentist. We made several requests for disclosure in the client’s defence statement, and the Prosecution discontinued the case thereafter.
Case Three - We defendant a client charged with s.18 GBH after he allegedly attacked another person with a large knife or machete, causing an extremely serious injury. The client claimed to have acted in self-defence, and that the accuser had brought the weapon to the scene. We were able to establish that the accuser was a known violent gang member. The client was acquitted.
Domestic violence
Case One - We defended a client accused of assaulting his wife by punching her multiple times. The case was a particularly sensitive one due to the client‘s mental health issues, and issues relating to the disability of one of his children, who was also a witness in the case.
Case Two - We defended a client working for a national newspaper organisation who was alleged to have assaulted his own daughter in the proximity of the family home. The allegation was made by the client‘s wife. The client argued that the allegation was fabricated by his wife because she had committed a high value theft against him, and was seeking to avoid consequences for having done so. The case was eventually dismissed at the close of the Prosecution's case after grave inconsistencies in the accuser‘s account were presented. The client did not even have to provide evidence.
Case Three - We defended a pensioner of good character, with no previous convictions, who was accused of committing a violent assault on his autistic child in a green chain walk. The client and his partner were at serious risk of losing their child in what became a horrific, emotional period of time for them as a family. We provided expert evidence that the child’s condition sometimes required the use of a degree of force for restraint and for his own protection. Witness inconstancy, our expert evidence and an extremely credible client and defence witness ensured a proper acquittal.
Harassment and stalking
Case One - We defended a client accused of harassing his neighbours on multiple occasions. The client was accused of sending threatening and insulting notes, and also of having damaged the accuser‘s front door. We were able to get the case discontinued.
Case Two - We defended a client charged with stalking involving fear of violence. The accuser was the client’s ex-partner. The case was a sensitive one as the client was struggling was mental health issues at the time. After lengthy discussions with the Prosecution, a plea bargain was accepted. The client pleaded guilty to harassment only, and the stalking allegation was dropped.
Case Three - We defended a client charged with stalking involving fear of violence, which included an incident where the client allegedly climbed up a water pipe to catch his wife in bed with her new partner. The case involved expert psychiatric evidence.
Criminal damage/arson
Case One - We defended a client who was accused of setting fire to abandoned flats. The damage was valued at well over £100,000. We obtained expert evidence of the client’s mental immaturity, which prevented the client from receiving an immediate prison sentence.
Case Two - We defended a client accused of setting fire to another man’s house while the man was still inside. The incident was allegedly retribution for previous abuse perpetrated by the homeowner. The case involved complex forensic and expert fire investigation evidence.
Case Three - We defended a client accused of having set fire to the building of his GP practice as retaliation for not being allowed to speak with his doctor.
Public order offences
Case One - We defended a client charged with an offence under s.4 Public Order Act 1986. The incident allegedly occurred after some local youths attended his home address to take issue with his sister. Body worn footage was presented and after some argument over the fairness of some of the evidence the Prosecution later discontinued the case.
Case Two - We defended a client who was one of several men charged with public order offences following disturbance on a train after a football game. In addition to criminal convictions, the Prosecution wanted to have Football Banning Orders imposed. Our client was the only defendant to be acquitted.
Case Three - We defended a client charged with a Public Order Act offence. He was alleged to have threatened the accuser in the middle of the day, with witnesses present, while being in possession of a knife. We successfully had the case discontinued before trial.
Breach of court orders
Case One - We defended a client charged with breaching a restraining order preventing him from contacting an ex-partner. The client was accused of contacting his ex-partner directly, and also posting private sexual photographs of her without her consent. The case involved phone and telecommunications evidence.
Case Two - We defended a client who had allegedly breached his Suspended Sentence Order. Probation brought the breach to the attention of the Court. We were able to demonstrate that the client’s mental health issues made the Order difficult to comply with. We persuaded Probation to withdraw breach proceedings.
Case Three - We defended a client charged with breaching a restraining order. The client was alleged to have contacted his partner several times, as well as having stalked her. As part of case preparation, we arranged for an expert to conduct a full download of the Defendant’s phones.
Driving offences
Case One - We defended a client charged with driving without due care and attention. This was a highly sensitive and complex case, in which a pensioner was run over by an HGV lorry. The case involved expert analysis of the camera points on the vehicle, plus CCTV and scene analysis. Following service of evidence from a defence expert, the case was later discontinued.
Case Two - We defended a client charged with driving with excess alcohol. This was a notable case as it arose from a malicious allegation by a one of the client’s family members. The client instructed us very early on, and so we were able to swiftly address a number of evidential issues in the case, including (but not limited to) a potential bad character application against the person making the allegation. The case was later discontinued.
Case Three - We defended a client accused of failing to stop for police. Police officers claimed that the client had driven off, while police pursued her with the lights and sirens on. The client claimed to have stopped as requested, but that the police arrested her for failing to stop as retaliation for the client’s partner (himself an ex-police officer) arguing with police at the scene. The client was acquitted.