R v Kemp – (2021) – Central Criminal Court – Murder. Led by Karim Khalil QC. D had gone to a police station some 35 years after the deceased had been killed and confessed to the murder.
R v Bowman – (2021) – Warwick Justice Centre – Murder (two trials) Led in final trial by Michael Ivers QC. D was acquitted by the jury.
R v Thomas – (2021) – Birmingham Crown Court – Possession of firearm and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. D acquitted on firearms, jury unable to agree on conspiracy after 6 week trial. Due for retrial in 2022.
R v Hamilton – (2020) – Nottingham Crown Court – Rape and Sexual offences (13 Counts). Acquitted on 2 counts. Permission to appeal granted on 7 counts. Successful appeal on 5 counts where Court of Appeal accepted submissions that the judge had erred in law in his direction to the jury.
R v Chorazewski – (2019/2020) – Wood Green Crown Court – Attempted Murder (2 trials). D acquitted of murder and S.18, convicted of S 20.
R v Bedward – (2019) – Birmingham Crown Court – Murder (led by Andrew Fisher QC)
R v Roxsana – (2019) – Southwark Crown Court – Conspiracy to defraud. Leading Junior (3 month trial). Secured non-custodial sentence.
R v Nakuya – (2019) – Woolwich Crown Court – Kevin Metzger secures an acquittal at Woolwich Crown Court after 3 week trial for woman accused of aiding and abetting a direct payment fraud on the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
R v Francis – (2018) – Birmingham Crown Court – D was charged with conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited firearms & conspiracy to sell or transfer ammunition; four handed case prosecuted by two experienced Junior Counsel.
This case involved complexities concerning disclosure and PII. There was information the Crown did not wish to disclose pursuant to my requests. The information would have disclosed police methods and was contained in covert police operations. It was crucial to D’s case for the jury to know enough of the information to ascertain that D had never been a subject and was not seen in the course of these operations.
I made submissions following a prosecution PII application which resulted in disclosure of what I was seeking and that there had been surveillance on the industrial estate for an undisclosed period. This enabled me to produce Agreed Facts that were accepted by the prosecution which supported a strong defence speech. Mr. Francis was the only defendant acquitted by the jury.
R v Harris – (2018) – Bradford Crown Court – D was charged with Violent Disorder in a ten handed case. He was one of 3 brothers charged in a case that arose out of an altercation in a Yorkshire Public House which ended in the death of a young man, run over by a car driven by D1. The case was before the presiding judge of the North Eastern Circuit and was prosecuted by Queens Counsel, as were D1 and D2. It attracted large scale publicity, being reported in the national press.
There were multiple witnesses and more than 10,000 pages of evidence were served electronically, largely relating to telephone contact between D’s group (cell site and GPS data) to follow their movements in the hours leading up to the final confrontation in the park. I meticulously perused this material to show D had only joined the group minutes before the incident. I successfully persuaded the judge to exclude damaging ‘bad character’ evidence relating to an unsubstantiated allegation against D and some ‘facebook’ material of an insensitive nature.
Achamma Kunnenkeril v Mayor & Burgesses of The London Borough of Enfield (2017)
The claimant was an experienced and successful foster carer, who was registered to have a maximum of two children in her care at any one time. The matter was heard in the High Court (QBD). She was looking after two children, both known to cause self-harm. The Council made a special allowance to place a third child with her – an emergency. After a few incidents, notified to the Council, in what the judge later described as a ‘significant assault’, the child struck a hard blow to the back of the claimant’s neck and was quickly removed.
The claimant became clinically depressed, was treated for this condition but felt unable to continue fostering children. The claim was then brought. I was instructed after papers had been filed. The Local Authority sought to strike out the application on the basis that the claim was not justiciable as they were carrying out a statutory duty. I obtained leave to amend and successfully defended the strike out application [2017] EWHC 1779 (QB)
R v Crittenden – (2017) – Chelmsford Crown Court – This case involved allegations of Attempted Murder and Causing Grievous Bodily Harm. D was alleged to have attacked her aunt with a knife, nearly killing her. This was a serious case that had attracted national publicity and led to severe tension in the travelling community in the Wickford Area. The deceased had been shot by D’s husband following what started as a family dispute due to a disagreement between children. I was led by Queens Counsel having successfully applied for an extension of the Representation Order.
R v Ali Balogun 2014 – 2016 – Inner London Crown Court – I led Ms. Rina Marie Hill for the defence in two trials where D was prosecuted by Southwark Council (LBS) for an offence of Misconduct in Public Office. The first trial concluded with the Jury being unable to reach a verdict (Oct.2014-Feb.2015). The second trial took place between January and April 2016. D was convicted, along with the four others she was tried with. It was alleged that she, as a Homeless Housing case worker, had processed applications from applicants who were not entitled to be housed by the Local Authority.
R v Pop 2014 – Southwark Crown Court – Defendant charged with two counts of controlling a prostitute for gain and one count of Managing a Brothel. Targeted disclosure requests led to the disclosure of information relating to two complainants which led to one acquittal and the Prosecution deciding not to re-try the Defendant.
R v Begum 2008 – Leeds Crown Court – The Defendant was charged with Money Laundering as the wife of a man who had been convicted of being concerned in large scale heroin trafficking. The case involved complex issues of law relating to joint enterprise offences as opposed to conspiracy and the investigation into her husband spanned 3 SOCA operations. There were two trials with the final one lasting some 5 months. The case attracted significant regional publicity
Prosecutor v Brima (Special Court for Sierra Leone). The Defendant, an officer in the Sierra Leone Army and a member of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council which effected a coup against the Government of Sierra Leone was accused of being one of the persons who bore the greatest responsibility for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity during the civil conflict between 1991 and 2001.
R v Clarke 2006 – Court of Appeal (having represented the Defendant at his original trial some 9 years previously) [2006] EWCA Crim 1196. Eventually decided in the House of Lords (Clarke and McDaid [2008] 1 WLR 338)
R v Charles Bronson 2001 – Court of Appeal [2001] EWCA Crim 1322. Counsel successfully argued for permission to appeal against the Applicant’s conviction for kidnapping a Prison Teacher on the basis that the Defendant was prevented from relying on the defence of duress of circumstance, while representing himself in the court below
Wicken v Wicken 1998 [1999] Fam.224; [1999] 2 W.L.R 1166 – High Court, Family Division. Conflict of laws (procedure), nullity, recognition of overseas divorce
