Dr Felicity Gerry KC led an application for a writ of Habeas Corpus and other relief in judicial review in the High Court on Thursday 1 February 2024 on the basis that her client is being unlawfully held in HMP Belmarsh after Not Guilty verdicts were entered in his murder trial at the Old Bailey on 10 January 2024. The issues include the jurisdiction of the High Court to review a decision of a Crown Court judge, the power of a judge to seek to revoke the discharge of a jury and the operation of the Juries Act on disclosure of jury notes. The matter was listed before The President, Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Hilliard. Judgment was reserved. You can read more here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce5k1x2l443o Felicity led Jade Gambrill and was instructed by Jo Chart, both of Sperrin Law.

Darren Snow has kicked off 2024 with an appointment as chair on a safeguarding appeal panel for the F.A. He chaired the panel earlier in January deciding an appeal against the F.A.s permanent suspension from coaching of a youth football coach recently released on licence following a long prison sentence. Darren is a specialist member of the FAs safeguarding review panel and has also been chairing safeguarding review panels with England Boxing for several years. He has also got experience advising and defending sports professionals facing safeguarding allegations. Libertas has several barristers with experience defending in sports work before sports regulatory tribunals and the criminal courts. For further information on our Sports work please speak to Marc King, our senior clerk.

Kieran Brockhouse (KB) had been charged with two counts of supporting terror groups: the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Freedom Fighters. KB had flown flags for these groups outside his house on two occasions in 2021 and 2022 and uploaded them to social media. KB’s case was that he was a member of the Orange Order who march on 12th July to commemorate the Battle of Boyne wearing bowler hats and white gloves as a mark of respect and peace. The flags were purchased in Ireland and flown innocently and not out of any intention to express support or invite support for the proscribed groups. The defence relied on the fact that KB did not know the groups had been proscribed and since the Good Friday Agreement signed in April 1998, thought the groups seized to exist. The jury acquitted KB of all charges. Gulam Ahmed had been instructed by Mohammed Naser of M&N Solicitors- Serious Crime and Fraud specialist.   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-67925271

Nina Grahame KC and Jane Greenhalgh successfully defended Brandon White, a 21 year old man of good character following a 5 week trial at Manchester Crown Court. A complex and historic feud between 2 Manchester families had developed after another family member’s death in 2018. That death had been witnessed by the victim in this case, Warren Burns, who died after the infliction of multiple injuries in the bedroom of his partner’s home after she and the couple’s 10 week old baby had fled into the garden. Nina and Jane’s client admitted presence and the use of limited, ineffectual violence, but denied any participation in unlawful violence, acting only in lawful defence of his uncle. In addition to consideration of non-accidental presence and defence of another in this joint enterprise case, an additional crucial issue for the jury was the relevance of honest but mistaken belief in self-defence. By detailed analysis, the jury were urged to carefully dissect and dismiss the prosecution ‘theories’ about BW’s involvement and the co-defendant’s lies. BW’s credibility was of particular importance as his evidence incriminated RW, who was convicted of murder. DW was convicted of manslaughter. BW’s partner, tried for her alleged role in knowingly assisting him after the event, was acquitted. The verdicts followed more than 9 hours of jury deliberation over 3 days. Nina and Jane combined their extensive experience of defending young people in joint enterprise cases, an area of law currently the subject of proposed and, in our view, much needed revision. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/warren-burns-white-murder-manchester-28288877?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar Nina and Jane were instructed by Ahmad Jawad of Central Chambers Law whose excellent preparation made a valuable contribution to this outcome.

Sarah Day led Fatima Laher in a 10 week multi-handed human trafficking trial at Winchester Crown Court, instructed by Sukhy Ark at Abbey Law. Their client was acquitted of conspiracy to facilitate travel with a view to exploitation under s2 Modern Slavery Act 2015. The prosecution case centred around prostitutes working in the Swindon area who had come from Romania. The Crown alleged that Sarah and Fatima’s client controlled the prostitution work of his girlfriend on behalf of an organised crime group. In the same trial James Walker led Dr Anthony Richardson to an acquittal of human trafficking for another of the principal defendants – instructed by Raz Mann of Mann & Co Solicitors.

Adam Kane KC secured the acquittal of a solicitor charged with second limb fraudulent trading following 11 weeks of evidence at trial in Leeds. The defendant was acquitted at the direction of the Judge at the close of the prosecution case. This was a retrial of a case that had been discharged after 6 weeks of evidence in 2022 after jury researches. The case involved the alleged mis-selling, on a boiler-room model, of wealth protection schemes designed to avoid liability for claw-back of local authority funded residential care home fees. The solicitor and his partner were alleged to have traded fraudulently by providing ‘execution-only’ legal services drafting and registering trusts and lasting powers of attorney to service companies unregulated by Legal Services Act, who made guarantees of their efficacy when cold-calling and home visiting member of the public. The case is one of the National Trading Standards cases prosecuted  by York City Council. Nina Grahame KC has been involved in challenges in the Court of Appeal to Trading Standards’ approach to prosecuting cases of this type and complexity in other proceedings in which she and m co-defend. In the current case, the approach of Trading Standards to criticism of the scheme as a £5.3 million fraud was highly controversial, TS relying on the opinion evidence of a practising solicitor as expert evidence of the law of estate planning and regulatory good practise. Multiple complainants were put before the jury inconsistently with the evidence of ‘whistle-blower’ sales-staff as to the basis on which they bought the trust deeds. Following the rulings at half-time, other defendants were acquitted when the Prosecution offered no evidence against the remaining defendants.  Adam, leading Michael Lavery, was instructed by Sarah Housley at Cunningham’s, Manchester.

By Dr Felicity Gerry KC I am delighted to see our campaign for the posthumous exoneration of Christine Keeler being covered for 4 days in The Mirror. The campaign is being brought by her son Seymour Platt who was left the task of telling her real story in her will. At the height of the “Profumo Scandal” Christine was the victim of a violent assault by a man called Lucky Gordon. He was prosecuted but sacked his lawyers and represented himself. In cross examination of her, he admitted assaulting her. She told the police she had not mentioned two other witnesses because they asked her not to. On the suggestion that she had lied about about who was present, Gordon’s conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal (the court unusually expressing their belief that Christine was telling the truth). Nonetheless she was prosecuted for perjury and PCJ. She pleaded guilty and was sent to prison. She was under terrible pressure. For example, news reports account members of the public throwing eggs at her outside the Old Bailey in Stephen Ward’s trial where she was also wrongly accused of being a sex worker. Ward took his life before verdicts on whether it could be shown he was not living on her “immoral” earnings. These events framed Christine Keeler appallingly for the rest of her life, as Seymour Platt has explained in the Mirror. The law on the charges Christine faced (despite being a victim) only applies if there is a “material lie”. That Christine did not state that two other men were present when she was violently assaulted was totally irrelevant, especially as a proper investigation would have revealed they saw the attack and because her attacker admitted in court he assaulted her The Criminal Cases Review Commission is now quite properly investigating the case. The implications of the comments her silk Jeremy Hutchinson QC made at the time made it obvious she pleaded guilty when she was not, and she was shamed, unlike others whose reputation has been restored. There is a real risk that she was wrongly convicted. Sending her to prison was dreadful and she rightly deserves a posthumous exoneration. It would also go a long way to reframing a case that is the epitome of slut shaming, fitting with modern CPS guidance on violence against women and girls

An update concerning the involvement of members of Libertas in Operations Destin and Barbados.   Operation Barbados is a series of trials prosecuted by two silks and one junior, which also will span 2023 to 2025 at Southwark. The case alleges large scale fraud in the burgeoning VOIP industry. 6 members of chambers defend in these trials including the first in the sequence which began in September 2023. The first in a series of three trials –  Operation Destin prosecuted by the Special Fraud Division alleging a substantial fraud in relation to timeshare investors and buy back schemes – commenced in October 2023 which eight members of Libertas defending four of the defendants.  The trials will span 2023 and 2024 at Southwark. https://www.law360.com/articles/1730769/trial-over-27m-monster-credits-timeshare-scam-kicks-off