In Manchester, Grahame has successfully secured the acquittal of a defendant charged with conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life, despite having previously been convicted of identical offences and this time with the very same firearm. Grahame was ably assisted by his solicitor Danielle Gibbons of Gibbons Law, as they negotiated their way through the evidence, including highly incriminating Encro chat messages, DNA on the gun, CCTV of storage and transfer, and police observations, resulting in the guns recovery in a matter of hours. Despite all of this, the Jury failed to be convinced by the prosecution of the defendant’s intention to endanger life, resulting in a very satisfactory outcome.

James Walker instructed in Operation Tantic by Laura Cook of Elliot Mather Solicitors represented Daniel Harris who was charged with 6 counts of encouraging terrorism and a count of possessing an article with intent at Manchester Crown Square. The defendant relied upon a modern slavery defence insisting he had been groomed despite a negative NRM. The Crown were able to establish links to Payton Gendron, the perpetrator of Buffalo shootings. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/27/uk-teenager-daniel-harris-sentenced-far-right-videos-us-killers https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-64426075 https://news.sky.com/story/daniel-harris-british-teenage-extremist-whose-videos-were-linked-to-two-mass-murders-in-us-jailed-12795052 https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2023-01-27/teen-continued-to-create-radicalising-videos-despite-engaging-with-police https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/british-teenager-made-video-inspired-mass-shootings-america/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11683499/British-neo-Nazi-19-far-right-videos-linked-massacres-jailed-11-years.html https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/teen-who-inspired-buffalo-shooting-killer-faces-extradition-to-the-us-x0lxwd28v

A jury sitting before Bennathan J at the Loughborough Super Court returned not guilty verdicts for Felicity’s client on both murder and a firearms offence on 18 January 2023 after a 3 month trial. The case was alleged to be pre planned by 8 defendants but, during the course of the trial, the case against Felicity’s client changed to the point that the judicial directions properly asked the jury to consider whether the prosecution had proved he had carried out any relevant conduct at all. Felicity led Afzal Anwar of 33 Bedford Row and was instructed by Sardar Asghar of DNL Law Ltd. You can read more about the case and the mixed verdicts here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-64338673 (note the charge of conspiracy referred to in the article was amended to murder)

Syam Soni secures acquittal for client accused of aggravated burglary at Kingston Crown Court Syam’s client, along with 2 others, was said to have attacked the home of a severely disabled man with knives. The Defendant’s DNA was recovered from a window through which entry was attempted. The timely instruction of an expert allowed for the forensic evidence to be robustly challenged. Syam successfully resisted the Prosecution‘s application to adduce several previous convictions relating to weapons, drugs and violence. Syam was instructed by Kaddy Bojang of Taylor Rose MW Solicitors.

Darren Snow recently represented a nurse before the Nursing & Midwifery Council in fitness to practice proceedings concerning potentially career ending allegations of patient abuse, dishonesty and multiple clinical failures at a care home involving several patients, one of whom had died and been the subject of neglect allegations by the family. Darren acted pro bono, instructed by Advocate. The allegations went back several years and until Darren’s involvement the nurse had been a litigant in person with no legal advice or support at all.  The nurse had continued to work with new employers in the interim without any interim order in place. Darren was able to get a substantial amount of highly prejudicial material excluded from the hearing including evidence from an inquest and police investigation – all accepted by the NMC to be inadmissible despite their initial attempts to rely upon it in the proceedings. At the hearing Darren’s submissions led to all charges of patient abuse and dishonesty being dismissed. Limited findings on separate charges were made by the Panel in respect of clinical failures leading to a 1-year caution order being imposed. In feedback to Advocate the nurse said of Darren “I would particularly like to thank Darren Snow, without his legal knowledge I would not have got through it” Darren Snow is ranked in the Legal 500 as a leading junior in professional discipline work. He has a wealth of experience successfully defending nurses and midwives at the NMC and regularly acts for the RCN and other defence organisations. For further information on Libertas’s Professional Disciplinary and Pro Bono work please contact our clerks.

In her first article for the prestigious Prospect Magazine, Dr Felicity Gerry KC writes under the title “It is not radical to want to close prisons”. There are over 80,000 people in prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales. A huge number are on remand, not convicted of any crime and supposedly presumed innocent. They are the prisoners most likely to commit suicide. Many of those waiting will be found not guilty or will be sentenced to less time than they have served. Thousands will be held in strict confinement for relatively minor offences, even where reasonable alternatives are known to be effective…. You can read the article here https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/close-prisons-ministry-of-justice-backlog-police-jail-cell Prospect is Britain’s leading current affairs monthly magazine. It is politically independent, with no party-political affiliation or agenda. It is a not-for-profit organisation, founded in Britain in 1995. Prospect has established itself as a must-read title with key figures in government, journalism, policy making and business. People turn to Prospect for the ideas and trends behind the headlines and for a contrarian view of topics.

The decision in the Dominic Ongwen Appeal was handed down on Thursday 15 December 2022. All of his grounds of appeal were dismissed. However, one judge recognised the importance of the non-punishment principle for former child soldiers from the Amici brief observations submitted by Dr Felicity Gerry KC who attended the appeal hearing and led a group of practitioners and academics in submitting the brief. In paragraph 107 of the Partly Dissenting Opinion of Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza referred to the observations of Gerry et al as follows: 107. Gerry et al., drawing upon their expertise in modern slavery law and criminal responsibility, submitted that “‘non-punishment’ of victims of modern slavery/human trafficking includes the non-liability of former child soldiers who commit crimes when they continue to suffer the effects of their victimhood through compromised mental health”.They noted that the Trial Chamber “did not consider or express any legal principles for evaluating the effect of being a child soldier nor the mental health nexus” in the trial or sentencing phases.They discussed “the need to recognise the long-term effects of being a child soldier”.They stressed the importance of applying relevant legal principles to the question of Mr Ongwen’s criminal responsibility in light of the fact that he was “made into a child soldier by the means and purposes of others” and that he “suffered as a consequence”. Non punishment of victims of human trafficking / modern slavery is an emerging norm in criminal law and remains an important issue for prosecutors to consider when seeking to prosecute former child soldiers and other victim perpetrators. You can read the Amici observation here https://www.icc-cpi.int/court-record/icc-02/04-01/15-1929 You can read about the Ongwen appeal here https://www.icc-cpi.int/cases?f%5B0%5D=state_of_%3A132  

As the year begins to draw towards it’s end we would like to thank all customers, clients, partners and contacts for being part of our journey through 2022 and wish you all a fantastic festive season and a happy new year. Our team will be on hand over the festive period as per the times below.  Friday 23rd December 8.30am – 1.30pm 24th – 27th December – Closed Wednesday 28th December – 9am—2pm Thursday 29th December – 9am—2pm Friday 30th December – 9am—2pm 31st December – 2nd January – Closed 3rd  January 2023  – Normal hours resume Once again, many thanks for working with Libertas during 2022 and we very much look forward to working with you in 2023.