Called to the Bar: 1999, Lincoln's Inn

Education

• 1998-99 - Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law (Sir Thomas More Bursary, Lincoln’s Inn)
• 1995-98 - University of Hull, LLB Hons (2:1) in Law

Areas of Practice

Criminal Law 

Both defence and prosecution work at all levels, including fraud, drugs offences, sexual offences and offences involving serious violence.
Acted in numerous Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings, including cases involving assets over £100,000. 
Level 3 prosecutor .
Attended training in prosecuting serious sexual offences and in the use of intermediaries to assist vulnerable witnesses.
Notable cases include:

• Prosecution junior in the five-week trial of a £2 million mortgage fraud, which ended in convictions for both main defendants. Conducted subsequent POCA proceedings alone.
• Currently the led junior in the prosecution of an alleged major organised crime group involved in the distribution of class A drugs in South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire (12 defendants, due for trial in January 2012).
• Successfully prosecuting at trial an inheritance fraud involving the removal of over £100,000 from a trust fund.
• Have both prosecuted and defended in cases involving the serious sexual abuse of children, including one involving a seven-year old complainant.
• Successfully prosecuting a defendant at trial for the multiple rape of his half-sister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
• Being the led junior in the prosecution of what was described by the judge  in sentencing as the worst case of historic child sex abuse he had ever known. The final indictment covered 47 counts, 20 complainants and a 35 year period, and resulted in a sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
• The successful defence at trial of a defendant charged with causing grievous bodily harm where the complainant suffered a fractured skull and was unconscious for several days.
• The successful prosecution at trial of two youths for the robbery of a taxi driver using both a knife and an imitation firearm.
• Conducting the first prosecution in the United Kingdom of an offence contrary to section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (trespass on a designated site), The prosecution required the personal consent and involvement of the Attorney General and was personally reviewed by the area Chief Crown Prosecutor. Successfully responded to an appeal against conviction in this case and subsequently instructed in several similar cases by North Yorkshire CPS.

Professional Memberships

North Eastern Circuit
Criminal Bar Association
Amnesty International
Justice

Interests

Enjoy travelling, reading (particularly history and science), sailing and supporting Middlesbrough FC.