David Brooke KC

Year of call: 1990

King's Counsel: 2017

David Brooke KC is a Criminal Specialist for both the prosecution and defence and has a heavyweight practice across the region. He has been described in the legal directories as a “long-standing practitioner in criminal law with impressive experience of handling cases relating to homicide, serious organised crime and sexual crime. He is especially well known for his ability to deal with complex multi-handed trials.” Although much of his current work relates to homicide, he is also a specialist advocate in regulatory crime including Health and Safety and Environmental Law especially fatal industrial accidents.

Crime

Homicide

This forms the majority of David’s work. The cases have involved complex issues ranging from provocation, diminished responsibility, self-defence and secondary party joint enterprise. Amongst recent cases was the successful prosecution of a “whodunnit” murder where the body of the female victim lay undiscovered for a week (R v S). Others have included multi-handed street murder (R v M and others), a multi-handed drive-by shooting (R v C and others) and a highly complex conspiracy to murder (R v Z and others). His recent defence work includes the alleged targeted killing of a drug dealer (R v H) and acting in a cut-throat defence where the accused had an IQ of 63 thus requiring special handling and the use of an intermediary (R v W). Forthcoming homicide trials cover situations such as an alleged stabbing of a child by a juvenile with autism spectrum syndrome and the murder of the victim by a jealous ex-boyfriend.

Serious Organised Crime

Other serious cases of professional crime, such as large-scale drug importation, have led him to work closely with the police in relation to organised crime. He has been frequently instructed by the Complex Case Unit in Leeds and secured successful convictions of criminal gangs nation-wide as well in the Northern regions. In a number of cases this has included individuals who have been extradited from abroad where the scope of the investigation has been international. He has dealt with cases concerning a “County Line” drug supply and the alleged exploitation of children. He is currently completing a series of “grooming” trials based on historic sexual abuse of children in West Yorkshire.

Regulatory

As junior counsel, from the mid 2000s, he was appointed to List A of the Regulatory List of Specialist Advocates in Health and Safety and Environmental Law and has conducted a number of serious cases in this field including in a multi-handed case described as “one of the largest prosecutions in the North East undertaken by the Environment Agency” He also acts on behalf of the HSE in a number of legally and factually complex fatalities in the workplace.

Recommendations

Leading Silk Legal 500 (2018), (2019), (2020), (2021), (2022), (2023), (2024).

“David Brooke is a pleasure to work with. He is calm, dependable and great with vulnerable complainants." Chambers & Partners 2024

“David is fantastic”. “David is a fierce and diligent prosecutor”. Chambers & Partners 2023

“David is meticulous, analytical and forensic in his preparation” Legal 500 2021

“He has an extraordinary calm persona and can pull complex cases together” Chambers & Partners 2020

“Meticulous in his preparation of cases and has a very calm and authoritative manner.” Chambers & Partners (2019)

“He is a really good operator who is very understated. He is really bright, he takes the factual points and he has judges eating out of his hand.” Chambers & Partners (2018)