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Practice

Monica has acted both alone and as led junior in a number of serious and challenging cases. Her principal areas of practise are:

  • Sexual Offences (experience defending serious sexual offences and dealing with vulnerable witnesses)
  • Trading Standards
  • Serious Violence

Before being called to the Bar, Monica lectured on the subject of public international law. More recently she has lectured on the work of the sentencing guidelines council and the provisions on notification of defence witnesses.

She accepts instructions in both private and publicly funded criminal work. She also undertakes cases in regulatory/disciplinary cases and inquest hearings.

An active member of the Criminal Bar Association she is the current secretary of the Education and Training group which oversees the continuing professional development programme for CBA members. As part of her work for the CBA, Monica has co-authored several working group responses to consultation papers on law reform including the drugs offences sentencing guidelines and defence witness notice provisions.

Monica is associated with the following areas of expertise:

Crime
Regulatory and Disciplinary
Inquest and Public Inquiries

Cases

Regulatory and Disciplinary Work

Trading Standards

  • Hertfordshire County Council v Mark Tatham – acted for the business owner in a trading standards prosecution brought under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
  • This case was a voluminous and complex investigation involving multiple complainants and a combination of regulatory and fraud offences. Successfully secured pleas to regulatory offences alone, with the defendant receiving a suspended prison sentence.
  • The case is set to feature in the current 2012 series of the Channel 5 programme “Cowboy Builders”.

Fraud

  • R v Webster & Others – Led junior for third defendant in a case concerning allegations of a senior BP employee being bribed up to £350,000 in order to award sea-diving contracts worth over £10 million.

Crime

Sexual Offences

  • R v Petru Tiron [A stranger rape in Arnos Park; defendant arrested following DNA results]
  • R v David Johnson – young male charged with and later acquitted of rape
  • R v Michael Crombie – Led Junior in a complex and sensitive case of historical sexual abuse.
  • R v Awad – historical sexual abuse of a juvenile.
  • R v Brown – historical sexual abuse of a juvenile.
  • R v Adigan – a charity worker  charged with and later acquitted of sexually assaulting a work placement student.
  • R v Shuttleworth – an allegation of voyeurism.
  • R v Ahmed – Indecent Assault of a child.
  • R v – Laskowski - Indecent Exposure (Sexual Offences Prevention Order lifted on appeal).
  • R v Hargreaves – Indecent Assault of a child.

Child Cruelty

  • R v Paul Husband & Others – Led Junior for a man charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on his partner’s two month old son who later died (although the actual cause of death was never established). The defendant was acquitted of causing the injuries but found guilty on the basis of neglect. This was a complex and sensitive case which was noted by the media to have several parallels with the Baby P case in terms of failings by social services and local authorities.

Violent Offences

  • R v Leo McKnight – Led junior for an ex-councillor charged with but later acquitted of attempting to murder his common law wife.
  • R v Michael Walker & Others – Led junior in a Flying Squad investigation acting for one of six men convicted of carrying out a series of violent armed robberies in South London (one of which resulted in a fatality)
  • R v David Knott – mitigated on behalf of a young man sentenced for taking part in the “August riots” [aka “the wheelchair looter”]
  • R v X – acted for a Lithuanian male sentenced for an “air rage” incident which forced a flight bound for Chicago to be re-routed to Heathrow.
  • R v Dean Jackson & Others – acted for a defendant who faced multiple charges of robbery. The prosecution offered no evidence as a result of successful legal argument following the discovery of investigative irregularities and “witness contamination”.

Inquests & Public Inquiries

  • Acted for the husband of the deceased in an inquest into the death of a young woman in hospital following the birth of her second child: Barnet Coroners Court, 2012
  • The Coroner returned a verdict of “neglect” after finding a number of failings at the hospital responsible for her care.

Articles & Publications

  • "Maintaining Standards" - New Law Journal 27 July 2012
  • "Timely Reminder of What is at Stake", The Times online, 24 May 2012  (click here for article)
  • “Showing your Hand” (the new defence witness notice provisions) – COUNSEL Magazine [July 2010]
  • “No Stone Left Unturned” (cell confessions) – New Law Journal [2005]
  • “Choose Life?” (reform to the homicide laws) – Solicitors’ Journal [2004]

Associated Work

  • Member of the working Group CBA consultation response to the Notification of Defence Witness Provisions
  • Member of the Working Group CBA consultation response to the Sentencing Council’s new guidelines on drug offences
  • Participant in the International Mock Trial Competition at the Hague in 2009
  • Regular contributor to advocacy training for pupils in chambers

Professional Memberships

 

  • Criminal Bar Association (CBA) committee; Secretary, CBA Education & Training CBA committee
  • Bar Pro Bono Unit
  • Peace Brigades International
  • United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA)

 

Contact

T. 020 7067 1500

E. mstevenson@25bedfordrow.com

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