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Education

1993 BA Hons Law and Politics (Oxford Brookes)

Practice

Recommended as a leader in crime in Chambers UK 2010. He acts as Leading junior and junior counsel for the defence, at first instance and on appeal, in serious crime including: murder; controlled drugs; fraud; confiscation; sexual offences; and, terrorist cases. He is very experienced in VHCC and private client work.

Tyrone Smith is associated with the following areas of expertise:

Crime
General Fraud 
Regulatory and Disciplinary
Terrorism

Cases

Crime

  • R v Learco Chindamo – defended man previously convicted of the murder of Headmaster Phillip Lawrence and charged with robbery whilst on licence.
  • R v Andy Frain – defended Chelsea ‘Head hunter’ aka ‘Nightmare’ following large scale public disorder between rival Chelsea and Cardiff supporters outside Stamford Bridge.
  • R v Housam Djemma – murder of partner, one of the first trial to advance the new defence of manslaughter by reason of loss of control.
  • R v Simeon Smith – murder of Sylvester ‘Twiggy’ Seynah.
  • R v Webber – teenage computer expert who created on online forum called ‘Ghostmarket’ for the sale of items used in connection with online fraud including credit card details, malware, zeus botnets.      
  • R v Calderwood -  the second trial relating to the robbery of "Graff the jewellers" in Bond Street where £40m of jewellery was taken.
  • R v Imran Aslam - murder of two brothers following a fight outside a ‘chicken shop’ in Balham.
  • R v Collender – ‘Witches hat murder’. The background to this case started after the defendants had taken a young woman’s Halloween fancy dress costume. Following a drunken fight in Sutton town centre the victim died of a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage.  
  • R v David Joseph and others - robbery of "Graff the jewellers" in Bond Street where £40m of jewellery was taken in broad daylight and never recovered.
  • R v Logan, Tate, Topsom, Iktilat, Wright and others – one of the largest ever money laundering and drugs supply investigations involving a number of separate but interconnected Police Operations including Eaglewood and Puntley. The money laundering side of the investigation involved the distribution of millions of pounds worth of high value Euro notes. The drugs supply involved over 85 separate multi-kilo importations of class A drugs. 
  • R v Michael Lawrence Represented drugs baron – sentenced for running large scale cocaine dealing, living international drug dealer’s lifestyle yet still claiming benefits. The police criticised the leniency of the sentence.  
  • R v Nicholas Webber Multi million pound fraud orchestrated by teenage public schoolboy computer whizz.
  • R v Couchman, Mills, Bowler – the largest ever conspiracy to import cannabis. The cannabis was imported from Holland by lorry using the cover of legitimate wholesale flower businesses. The imported drugs were then distributed from lock up garages in south London. The annual turnover of the conspiracy is estimated at £45 million.
  • R v Hassan and others – conspiracy to import wholesale quantities of class A drugs using a light aircraft to fly from Belgium to Kent.
  • R v NH and others - murder of a man close to QPR football stadium on Christmas Eve whilst he was unloading Christmas presents.
  • R v Arulumpalam – manslaughter by beating. Cause of death subarachnoid haemorrhage.
  • R v Purdey and others – conspiracy to manufacture and supply firearms which were said to have been used in over 40 shootings across the UK including the Rhys-Jones murder.
  • R v Mayers and others - murder of a young man stabbed outside Lewisham police station in broad daylight. This case is now the leading authority on the granting of anonymity orders for prosecution witnesses.
  • R v Sander Kesington – manslaughter by beating, cause of death subarachnoid haemorrhage.  
  • R v JW - the youngest person to have ever been convicted of attempted murder using a firearm.
  • R v Byron Cole – murder and gangland shooting outside Lewisham ice rink.
  • R v Forbes, and others – sexual offences, this is now the guideline case on the recently amended IPP legislation.
  • R v Junior Gordon – murder of a man outside of a busy nightclub.
  • R v Julian Williams – murder of a neighbour after the defendant sustained racial abuse.
  • R v Mirga-Ondycz – murder by beating. Cause of death  subarachnoid haemorrhage.  
  • R v Cribben and Lee – importation of 50 kilos of cocaine.
  • R v Magee - importation of firearms, including submachine and heavy machine guns.
  • R v Bradley Tucker – the murder of Peter Woodhams, a young father shot four times in broad daylight close to his home in Custom House.
  • R v McGrady - the murder and mutilation of a teenage girl. The victim’s body parts were concealed in bin bags on a south London estate.
  • R v Davenport & Ors – the blackmail of QPR football club chairman Gianni Paladini. It was alleged that the defendant sought to force Mr Paladini to relinquish his shares in QPR by force, including the use of firearms.
  • R v Mattu, Rai & Ors - murder by arson. The defendant was alleged to be one of a group  of men paid by a husband to set fire to a house in Tipton Dudley whilst his wife and  parents slept inside. Four people died in the fire.
  • R v Johnson and Nduka - murder following a series of robberies of workers in the sex industry.
  • R v Gavin Hunt & Ors - the largest ever single importation of Class A drugs (500 kilos of cocaine). The drugs were concealed in coconuts and imported into Spitalfields market.
  • R v Cullen & Crandle - attempted murder. The victim was found in the boot of the car driven by the defendant. It was suggested the defendants had tried to replicate scenes from the film 'Goodfellas'.
  • R v Laselles Hazell - murder of a fifteen year old boy outside a school in Fulham. The killing took place whilst the victim was being robbed of his baseball cap.
  • R v Dennis Smith - conspiracy to import cocaine valued at over £12.5 million. The drugs were concealed on a coach carrying war veteran's home from a visit to the cemeteries of France.
  • R v Gary Ward - importation of 200,000 ecstasy tablets. The case was notable for its lip-reading evidence from the now discredited expert witness Jessica Rees.
  • R v Cokgezen - attempted murder. The defendant was alleged to have been a hit-man contracted to murder two men in broad daylight following a gang turf war in Green Lanes between rival Turkish gangs.
  • R v Matovic – conspiracy to import ½ a tonne of controlled drugs by yacht.
  • R v Dar & Yilmaz – conspiracy to import £100 million worth of heroin. The re-trial, following a successful appeal, involved the first application made for trial without jury.
  • R v Huntley & Carr - advised News International in relation to the recovery of prosecution exhibits taken from the defendants’ family members.
  • R v O'Connor, Hanley, Wright - conspiracy to import cocaine valued at over £800 million. This was the country's longest running jury trial (fourteen months). The case also involved the laundering of the proceedings through horse racing.
  • R v Imran Khan – murder of the defendant’s wife by strangulation with a neck tie.
  • R v Batell, Black - armed robbery. This was the first case to use telephone cell site evidence.

Fraud and Financial Regulation

  • Operation Lament – “boiler room fraud” based in Spain.
  • R v Khan & Others – large scale VAT fraud on property transactions.
  • British Comedy Awards - advised in relation to OFCOM proceedings and potential allegations of fraud resulting from alleged ‘rigging’ of national telephone vote in respect of a TV award made to ‘Ant and Dec’.  
  • R v Tuhill – £1 million tobacco diversion fraud, involving counterfeit cigarettes.
  • R v Hussein - multi million pound international pharmaceutical fraud involving the distribution of wholesale quantities of counterfeit medicines into the NHS and chemists.  
  • R v Rogalski & Ors - sole counsel for a defendant charged in the largest ever credit card fraud, said to have involved potential losses of £170 million.
  • R v Ellicot & Pawlikovski - acted for the principal defendant in this SFO prosecution, the last of the cases said to be connected to former England football manager Terry Venables.
  • R v Takkar - MTiC fraud £5 million.
  • R v Agwu-Jones - corruption and fraud in respect of Local Government.
  • R v Aigbedion & Ors – the largest 'fake wedding' immigration scam.
  • R v Godfrey& others  – £5milion tobacco diversion fraud .
  • R v Thorne & Ors: Alcohol diversion fraud causing loss to the exchequer of £4million.

Reported Cases

  • R v Mayers  [2008] EWCA Crim 1418; [2008] WLR (D) 390; CA
  • R v Forbes  [2007] EWCA Crim 621
  • R v Miloradovic  [2008] EWCA Crim 1992
  • R v Matovic  [2007] EWCA Crim 1353
  • R v Winslow  [2004] EWCA Crim 3417
  • R v Redjemi  [2003] EWCA Crim 2019
  • R v Mark Scarf  [2002] EWCA Crim 1970
  • R v Linegar  [2002] Archbold News 1 & Archbold Chapter 14-16
  • R v Webber & McCarrol  [2001] EWCA Crim 25
  • R v Zafar, Brown & Ors [1998] 2.Cr.App.R.(S.)

Other Cases

Has acted in relation to regulatory matters including Ofcom matters.

Associated Work

Appears in Advocacy and Conferencing training videos for College of Law Bar Vocational Course.

Directories

Recommended as a leader in crime in Chambers UK 2012

Contact

T. 020 7067 1500

E. tsmith@25bedfordrow.com