Daniel Murray

Barrister

Daniel Murray specialises in criminal defence, and has a strong practice in serious crime, fraud and regulatory matters. He is regularly instructed in complex cases involving offences such as murder, large-scale drug importation, gang-related violence and money laundering.

Regularly listed in the Legal 500, he is particularly skilled at analysing complex phone and digital evidence and has extensive experience in cross-jurisdictional money laundering cases. Adept at quickly identifying the key issues, Daniel combines a personable manner with incisive advocacy, earning the trust of both professional and lay clients.

Alongside his criminal practice, Daniel has significant experience in regulatory proceedings, particularly in professional discipline within the medical and care sectors. He is regularly instructed by the Nursing & Midwifery Council, the General Dental Council, and in cases brought by the General Medical Council before the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service.

He is qualified to accept Public Access instructions and has experience advising authors and other creatives on legal procedure.

Memberships

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn
Criminal Bar Association
British Association of Sport and the Law
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
South Eastern Circuit

Education

LLB (Hons) (UCL)
Postgraduate Certificate in Sport and the Law (DeMontford)

Email: dmurray@25bedfordrow.com

R v SP: Operation Barbados. Southwark Crown Court. VHCC case. Leading counsel in a 24 handed, Organised Crime Group, Money Laundering/Conspiracy to Cheat of over £20 million. Press Link 1; Press Link 2.
R v ZK: Sheffield Crown Court. Operation Nurture. Massive HMRC cross jurisdictional operation (with Hungarian law enforcement) into tobacco smuggling. Defendants are said to be part of an Organised Criminal Group who have facilitated illegal importation, storage and distribution/sale of non-UK paid tobacco products on an industrial scale.
R v CR: Guildford Crown Court. £904,000 NHS Trust fraud and related money laundering counts. Relates to fraud perpetrated on Mersey NHS Trust in 2018. 8 handed 8-10 week. Press Link.
R v ID: Leeds Crown Court. Alcohol diversion fraud to cheat the Revenue of more than £1 million. Cross-border inter territorial disputes and VAT
R v AH: and others: Leeds Crown Court. Leading counsel representing the second in command of the architect of the largest ever pharmaceutical counterfeit prosecution by Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA). 9-month trial described as “one of the most complex counterfeit medicines trials to be held in the UK.”
R v NA: Southwark Crown Court. Successfully defended the only Company Director acquitted of a long running VAT fraud in the Indian restaurant sector.
R v YP: Leicester Crown Court. Huge conspiracy to defraud leading national institutions which totalled £12million from 12 different successful fraudulent enterprises with a further 7 organisations targeted.
R v CRH: St Albans Crown Court. Fraudulent trading offences contrary to Companies Act 1985 in relation to three different companies operating ticket exchange in unregulated market.
R v EK: Large scale phishing fraud. In excess of 100,000 pages.
R v ES: £15million VAT refund fraud and related confiscation hearing.
R v AP: Massive diversion VAT fraud whereby import licenses were manipulated to provide for a loss to HMRC of more than £25 million during the course of the conspiracy. Those convicted received the maximum sentence. Successfully secured the only acquittal for my client.
R v ST: One of the largest counterfeit tobacco smuggling prosecutions of the last 5 years.
R v SEM: Voluminous case of 2 separate Conspiracies to Defraud over £1.5 million over a 5-year period and related confiscation proceedings.
BSI v SH: regarding dissipation of assets prior to declaration of bankruptcy.
R v KC & Others: EURO30 Million money laundering case. Utilisation of network of Foreign Currency Exchanges across London. Sterling exchanged for high value Euro denominations bought from wholesale foreign currency dealers.
R v F: Long-running fraud committed against a charity. Involved considerations of regulatory law in respect of charity trustees and directors’ duties.
R v Iqbal & Others: Breach of trust, conspiracy to defraud. Bank employees involved in large scale fraudulent CHAPS transfers. Involved detailed analysis of internal banking transactions utilising Adobe software and regulatory aspect of banking practices.
R v BM & Others: Leading junior representing the lead defendant in a multi-handed conspiracy to supply Class A (42 kilos of 89% purity cocaine). Defendant received equivalent of 24-year sentence. The related confiscation proceedings took 3 years to complete.

Serious Violence & Gun Crime

R v SOO: Central Criminal Court. Acquitted of Murder and Manslaughter after 4 month trial where victim was tortured to death. Press Link.
R v ZF: Central Criminal Court. Murder, Attempted Murder and Assisting Offender. Acquitted after 4-month trial. Press Link.
R v FA: Woolwich Crown Court. Attempted Murder. Represented 16-year-old accused of attempting to murder another 16-year-old boy in a joint enterprise with a third 16-year-old boy.
R v LG: Central Criminal Court. Represented the first defendant, accused of Conspiracies to murder, to cause GBH with intent, to supply Class A/B/C, to possess firearms with intent to endanger life, and participation in an organised crime group. Press Link.
R v NH: St Albans Crown Court. Junior counsel to man charged with joint enterprise murder and then covering the crime up. 4 handed trial. Press Link.
R v MZ: Bradford Crown Court. Double Murder. Represented the first person to be extradited from Pakistan in over 11 years. Press Link.
R v QZ: Birmingham Crown Court, Murder. Represented a defendant in a case which involved over 3 weeks of Public Interest immunity applications relating to potential evidence from a ‘supergrass’.
R v AA: Croydon Crown Court. Conspiracy to Reactivate Firearms. Represented a man accused with operating a gun factory where decommissioned firearms including an AK-47 were reactivated and ammunition manufactured.
R v LAB & Others: Central Criminal Court. Murder and Violent Disorder. Successfully defended the only defendant to be acquitted of all charges. Press Link.
R v KS & Other: Central Criminal Court. Murder. Press Link.
R v CM & DR: St Albans Crown Court. Leading counsel in attempted murder of police officer. Kidnap at gunpoint. firearms and possession of high purity cocaine with intent to supply. Press Link.
R v RN: Luton Crown Court Leading Junior defending a man accused of Murder and Violent Disorder: a gang-related fatal stabbing. Following a successful legal argument regarding the lack of sufficient disclosure, the prosecution offered no evidence on the murder charge against the defendant represented. The remaining violent disorder count was successfully defended. Press Link.
R v JW: Kidnap and possession of firearm case whereby the defendant had kidnapped his father’s associate at gunpoint and abducted him in the boot of a car in response to his father putting out a contract for his son’s execution following the robbery of a drug consignment. The 18-year-old defendant had already been the subject of a five-year sentence for previous firearms offences and was facing an indeterminate sentence.

Drug Trafficking and Organised Crime

R v SF: Birmingham Crown Court. 450 kilogram cocaine operation with associated £14 million money laundering operation.
R v RM: Leeds Crown Court. Operation Easlearm – investigation into the supply of Class A drugs across the West Yorkshire area and surrounding counties. Conspiracies to supply Class A & Money Laundering. Encrochat case. Supply of 34 kilos of cocaine, 60 ounces of MDMA and 20,000 Ecstasy pills
R v ON: Aylesbury Crown Court. Operation Gulp. 14 counts alleging Class A drug conspiracy, mortgage frauds and multiple incidents of money laundering. Representing the first defendant as leading counsel. The defendant was said to have set up and run a drug supply business and has then laundered the profits through an ice cream business and through investments into residential property using his family and friends.
R v RB: Carlisle Crown Court. Operation Matrix. The largest ever drug conspiracy prosecution in Cumbria. Represented the Cumbrian end of a large-scale national drug conspiracy. Press Link.
R v KB: Southwark Crown Court. Importation of 1.4 tonnes of cannabis from Ghana through a shipping container. Alleged manipulation of bills of lading and corruption of local Ghanaian customs. National Crime Agency investigation. Press Link.
R v PS: Chelmsford Crown Court. Successfully represented a man accused of importing 2 tonnes of cannabis secreted in the gunwales and hold of 2 imported pleasure boats.
R v TI: Birmingham Crown Court. Represented one of the 2 main defendants in 9 handed, Class A drug conspiracy with probe evidence and covert recordings. Successfully stayed as an abuse of process and reported on front page of The Sunday Times. Press Link.
R v ON: Aylesbury Crown Court. Operation Gulp 14 counts alleging Class A drug conspiracy, mortgage frauds and multiple incidents of money laundering. Represented the first defendant as leading counsel.
R v YS: Croydon Crown Court. 25 kilo Methamphetamine export to Australia. National Crime Agency investigation. 4-month trial. Press Link.
R v GL: Kingston Crown Court. Leading counsel in Class A drug conspiracy over 1 metric tonne supplied. National Crime Agency investigation. Press Link.
R v MAQ: Southwark Crown Court. Leading counsel in large-scale Organised Crime Group multi-handed conspiracy to facilitate the commission of a breach of the UK immigration laws. 60 migrants alleged to have been smuggled into the UK on 18 occasions.
R v AD: Southwark Crown Court. Represented defendant charge with conspiracy to supply 10 kilos of Class A drugs at 96% purity. Despite the cut throat nature of the defence against a privately instructed KC, the co defendant was convicted and AD was not.
R v GM: Large scale Class A and Firearms importation of over 135kilos. Successfully secured only acquittal. Co-defendant received a sentence of 18 years.
R v EC: 11-month conspiracy to supply Class A case. 5,000 hours of surveillance. 11 defendants. This case involved huge documentation and analysis of CCTV and telephone evidence through Adobe software. Resulted in acquittal by jury.
R v BM: Represented the lead defendant charged with importation of 50kg of 90% purity cocaine against privately instructed KCs.

Arson

R v DM and others: Wood Green Crown Court. Instructed as leading counsel in the M1 arson trial concerning a series of fires near or underneath the M1 which resulted in its closure for several days. Press Link.
R v TC: Isleworth Crown Court. Successfully defended a man charged with Arson on a service station forecourt.

Regulatory Proceedings

Significant experience in defending Police misconduct cases.
General Medical Council: Represented doctors in MTPS proceedings and advised prior to proceedings and after sanctions imposed.
Seconded to the Nursing and Midwifery Council: competence, misconduct and conviction cases. Interim Orders. High Court extensions.
R v AH: Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory agency case. Largest prosecution of its kind. Successfully defended Pharmacist as Leading Counsel.
Commissioner for Metropolitan Police v Waya: This was a successful defence of forfeiture proceedings but also a successful application for costs in the teeth of fierce resistance by the Metropolitan Police.
General Dental Council: Defending registrants accused of regulatory breaches.

Trademark & IP Cases

Represented leading international furniture designer in respect of global brand protection.
R v Bomolo: Counterfeit luxury goods (Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Chanel) conspiracy to import from China to Africa through the UK.
R v Halai and others: Largest ever counterfeit prosecution by Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority. Leading counsel representing the alleged second in command of the architect of the largest ever pharmaceutical counterfeit prosecution by Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA). 9-month trial described as “one of the most complex counterfeit medicines trials to be held in the UK.” by the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau. Subject of much publicity in the national media. Resulted in a hung jury. The retrial ended in a negotiated settlement and successfully defending an application for recovery of defendant’s costs of over £250,000. This case required a thorough understanding of complex pharmaceutical regulations, wholesale dealing licensing obligations, grey market EU import law and cross-jurisdictional, intercontinental banking regulations to combat money laundering allegations. It also concerned allegations concerning contravening trademarks resulted and the seizure of over £1,500,000 of counterfeit medicines and the unravelling of the biggest conspiracy to supply counterfeit medicines encountered in the UK.

Disciplinary Cases

Police Appeals Tribunal oral hearing. Only 5% of appeals result in an invitation to present the case at an oral hearing.
Police Appeal Tribunal. Drafting and presenting successful 14,000-word appeal notice.
Re GT: Police Disciplinary Tribunal. 5-day Gross Misconduct Tribunal. Empress State Building.
R v R CH: Representing a professional golf player charged with money laundering and dishonesty offences. Successfully argued that the confiscation regime should not apply and therefore saved the client hundreds of thousands of pounds which avoided the sale of his home.
UDRP: Representing international rugby union player in the retrieval of an unauthorised domain name registered in Gibraltar by Russian registrants.