Notable cases Serious Crime
Homicide: Numerous cases of murder and manslaughter, both as junior and as Leader, including a 25 handed trial of conspiracy to murder.
R v J and others - 25 handed conspiracy to murder involving Triads based in Soho.
R v NK & others – Multi-handed drugs related execution following gang war and several shootings.
R v S & others – Four - handed murder of a youth whose body was set on fire. Charred remains found by passer by in the morning proved impossible to identify. Initially believed by the police to be a ritual killing.
R v G & others – young man beaten and thrown into the river Thames following a party consisting of Gurkha soldiers and other Nepalese men.
R v I & others – Frenzied killing of a man by a 17 year old charged with adult defendants.
R v T.M.& another – Killing following an attack on the family home by 2 drunken men, successful defence of provocation.
R v O & others – Security men charged with the manslaughter of drunken man whilst being ejected from a nightclub.
Sexual Offences: Experienced in a wide variety of sexual offence cases from Indecent Touching to multiple rapes.
R v S and others – Girls as young as 12 were groomed by a group of older men in West Yorkshire. They were abused systematically for years. This was a very high profile case which was reported in most of the national press.
R v B & another – Human trafficking from Eastern Europe, victim raped and put into prostitution.
R v W & W – Parents raping and abusing their own children as young as 4 over many years.
R v GG – Historic rape (30 years ago) of step daughter. Successful abuse of process argument based on delay.
R v C & others – 17 year old accused of raping a 16 year old following alcohol and cannabis consumption by both.
R v C & others – ‘gang bang’ of law student by youths aged between 15 and 20 years.
Robberies and Burglaries: Covered every aspect of robberies and burglaries over the years from domestic burglaries to street robberies to serious aggravated burglaries, armed robberies banks and building societies and security vans by highly organised and sophisticated gangs.
R v B – Highly publicised case of aggravated burglary labelled by the media as the first million pound burglar who raided high value houses.
R v S & others – charged with armed robberies of banks and building societies over a 5 year period.
R v K & others – “steaming”, robbing passengers on the underground, in between stops, by many youths rushing into carriages.
R v H & others – 4 youths torturing and seriously injuring an elderly woman in her house with a chisel before making off with her valuables.
Other cases of violence: Conducted many cases of GBH, assaults, public order offences of affray, violent disorder and a case of Riot.
R v O & others – GBH of a young father who lost his sight as a result of the attack.
R v B & others – Murder of a young Pakistani bride by her husband and a follow-on trial of the family for neglect of a vulnerable adult – the first case of its kind under s. 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.
Drug cases: Conspiracy to import, supply and possess Class A, B and C drugs. High value serious cases involving informants, covert observations and recordings.
R v A & others – Operation Central around Sheffield involving supply of large quantities of heroin.
R v O.R. & others – London based gang supplying to suburbs of London and surrounding cities.
R v W & others – High level production of Class B (amphetamines), £10 million confiscation.
R v L.P. & others – Series of cannabis factories around the country, money laundered through takeaway restaurants and nail bars across the country. Reported as the highest value cannabis production in the UK.
R v B & others – Columbian gang smuggling vast quantities of cocaine.
Financial Crime
A major part of the practice has involved serious fraud cases, including large scale VAT cases, involving Bonded Warehouses, cigarette and alcohol smuggling, mortgage frauds, cheating the Revenue and bribery.
The Abbey National case – lasted 9 months at the ‘Old Bailey’, involving a Senior Manager of the Abbey National awarding false contracts to those who produced advertising material for the bank.
R v K & others - Large scale mortgage fraud and money laundering resulting from self certification. Successful defence based on banks knowingly accepting false self certifications.
R v A & others – fraudulently changing ownership details at the Land Registry, then re-mortgaging the houses without the knowledge of the householders, thereafter converting the proceeds into gold bullion (never recovered).
R v B – mortgage fraud and subsequent money laundering.
R v M & others – fraud committed by ticket collectors on the railways, loss calculated in millions of pounds.
R v G & others – Large scale tax cheating scheme to avoid paying of tax by and to licenced doormen across the country.
R v D & another – large scale counterfeit designer jewellery, brand names including Tiffanys, Chanel, D&G etc.
R v O&O – allegation of fraudulent VAT reclaim of £165 million.
R v B & others – printing counterfeit currency, said to be one of the best ever production of counterfeit sterling notes which flooded the market.
R v S – Fraud committed by an Olympic athlete who invented a sports drink used by the England cricket team and other athletes.
Confiscation – Regularly instructed in cases involving confiscation.
R v W & others – leading case on the subject of ‘hidden assets’.
R v K – Recent case in which the Crown claimed £1.5 million resulting in a confiscation order of £1.
International Crime
Drugs: Many of the serious cases have, inevitably, a strong international element and require research into the laws of other countries, in particular the different methods of collation of evidence has proved vital in defending cross-border cases.
R v B & others – a massive drugs conspiracy that was observed from Columbia to the West Indies to Spain then through Europe before ending in the UK. Covert surveillance was carried out in different parts of the world by different police forces. It was necessary to call expert evidence as to law and procedures relating to Swiss law.
R v C – 200 kgs of heroin was uplifted connected to other imports of similar magnitude. The defendant was said to be a prominent political figure in the PKK and raising money through large scale drugs trafficking. This case entailed research into the position of Kurds in the Middle East, in particular Turkey, and the political implications thereof.
R v H & others – the defendants were charged with Hijacking a passenger airline (with 250 passengers) and landing at Stansted via Cyprus. High publicity case which developed the law of necessity and duress of circumstances further. The case also established the principle that such a defence is for the jury to consider and not the trial judge.
Human trafficking/Facilitation (International):
Conducted a number of Snakehead cases, including R v L & others , R v W & others. The Snakeheads originated in the Fujiyan province of China who for centuries facilitated Chinese people to travel within various provinces of China. In the 90s they were responsible for many illegal entrants into the UK. People were brought over with false documentation or smuggled in lorries. They were then often kept hostage until a fee was paid in China. Travel agents with a nasty bite!
R v P & others – facilitation of individuals from the Indian subcontinent to the UK via Africa and Europe and then facilitating their entry into the USA, in the main using false passports and other false documentation by an international gang.
R v R & others – Highly publicised case using a corrupt Customs officer at Lunar House in Croydon to grant visas to overstayers. An international conspiracy involving both immigrants and gang members of different nationalities.
R v B – Trafficking of Eastern Europe females for prostitution. Organised crime based in different countries.
International Financial Crime:
R v Y & others – Pharmaceutical fraud whereby counterfeit drugs including those routinely prescribed to heart patients were produced in China, smuggled into Europe via the Indian sub continent, re-packaged and distributed to European countries including the UK and sold in high street pharmacies.
R v K & others – A ‘boiler room’ fraud whereby worthless shares were sold from Spain to investors based all over Europe. The operation had been set up by fraudulent brokers from the USA and millions were siphoned to the USA via UK accounts.
R v B & others – First production of false cheque cards using skimming machines and encoders. Base material produced in China, card details obtained in the USA and European countries and primarily used in UK causing high value loss to customers. A sting operation initiated by the FBI and assisted by Interpol and Scotland Yard.
R v N.N & others – Cyber crime involving nationals from many countries, leading to 60 arrests across Europe and Turkey. The FBI set up a sting operation from the USA on the internet trading in thousands of live cheque card details. Loss calculated in millions. Criminals from all over the world joined in and traded, illustrating the lack of frontiers in cybercrime.
R v L – Terrorism Act charge of possessing a computer with encoded material that was said by the Crown to be so complicated that it would take 100 years to decipher. |
