Reported and Notable Appellate Cases:
R v Gurney [2022] EWCA Crim 1331 - Attorney General’s Reference in a conspiracy to produce amphetamine – the Court noted that there was no previously reported case involving amphetamine production of this scale.
R v ZM [2019] EWCA Crim 1532 – Successful renewal of permission for leave to appeal sentence following guilty pleas to dealing Class A drugs. Sentence reduced from 8 years 4 months to 6 years 9 months.
R v G [2016] 4 WLR 185, [2016] EWCA Crim 1633 - One of the key authorities since the Ched Evans litigation on the application of s41 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (admissibility of evidence relating to previous sexual behaviour)
R v Hyde [2014] EWCA Crim 713 and [2012] EWCA Crim 1113 - This case involved an allegation of illegal brokering of an international arms deal for 80,000 guns and 32m rounds of ammunition, shipped between China and Nigeria. The first trial resulted in a successful submission of no case to answer, later reversed by Court of Appeal. After the retrial, David as junior Counsel then took (and won) a novel point on the correct interpretation of the forfeiture provisions of the Firearms Act 1968.
AG Ref 32 of 2013 [2013] EWCA Crim 1202 - The Attorney General referred the sentence of Billy Duggan (for whom David had been junior Counsel at trial) to the Court of Appeal as being unduly lenient. David, acting alone, successfully resisted that application, with the Court finding that this was an exceptional case where the Defendant could be spared imprisonment.
Serious and Grave Crime
R v Frisby – David’s mitigation helped secure a sentence of only 27 months for a woman who had pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice by attempting to influence a jury in the trial of a drug dealer (other defendants were convicted after trial): Juror who tried to fix boxing promoter's drug dealing trial is jailed for four years Daily Mail Online
R v BSE – David was junior Counsel in this highly unusual prosecution for murder where the violence underpinning the indictment took place in 2002, but the victim did not die until 2017. Additional complication arose from the fact that the Defendant was 81 at the time the case would have been tried, following contested fitness to plead proceedings. After much negotiation the Prosecution accepted a plea to manslaughter by provocation, and the Defendant received a suspended sentence – extremely unusual for an allegation of homicide.
R v RW – A genuinely extraordinary case involving allegations under the Explosive Substances Act 1883, Poisons Act 1972 and Chemical Weapons Act 1996. David was junior Counsel in this case, at the end of which the Defendant was acquitted of all 27 counts on the trial indictment.
R v DC – Successful defence to soliciting murder where a respected GP was accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill an independent financial advisor whom he blamed for poor advice; the case had a high media profile (see for example https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-44964469).
R v EI – Successful defence of young man accused, with several others, of manslaughter following a fight near Turnpike Lane tube station which resulted in a fatal stabbing.
R v S – Successful defence to soliciting murder in a case that threw into sharp relief the difficulties in interpreting 19th century statute in the internet age. The Defendant had posted messages on a website on the ‘dark web’ inviting the murder of his new born child, allegedly to avoid CSA payments. David argued that an auto-response generated by the website was not sufficient for conviction; his client was acquitted.
R v C – The defendant in this case admitted attempted murder. Following David’s mitigation the sentencing Judge very significantly reduced the starting point before credit for guilty plea and in the event passed a sentence of only 9 years.
R v O’Brien - David was sole Counsel for the first defendant of 14. This was an international conspiracy to steal items made of rhinoceros horn and priceless jade artefacts from British museums, with a total value of somewhere between £20M and £57M.
The case was widely reported at its conclusion – see for example http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/29/chinese-artefacts-fourteen-men-convicted-british-museums-rhino-horn
Drugs
R v PH – Sole counsel for second defendant of 6 – conspiracy to supply over 30kg of cocaine and produce over 100kg of amphetamine.
R v Baltais - Sole Counsel for first defendant of 10 – conspiracy to import 13kg of cocaine and heroin from Belgium to the United Kingdom.
R v Van Doesburg - This case alleged the importation of 108kg of cocaine into the UK, valued at £16.2M, secreted in the rudder-trunking area of a coal tanker that had crossed the Atlantic from Columbia. The Crown’s case was that the Defendant was part of a team assembled to recover the drugs using underwater diving equipment and a specially adapted inflatable boat, and attracted national media interest by virtue of its description as a ‘James Bond style’ plot. An example may be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-30351899
David acted as junior Counsel in this case and his client was acquitted by the jury.
Sexual Offences
R v NG - Sole Counsel for Defendant alleged to have engaged in sexual activity with a 15 year old boy after meeting him in an online chatroom.
R v PM - Sole Counsel for former Police Officer accused of historic sexual offending against a then 15 year old girl.
R v CA - Successful application to dismiss a charge of controlling a person under 18 in prostitution. David’s client was himself a vulnerable young person; the Court accepted the argument that the proper interpretation of s49(1) Sexual Offences Act 2003 meant that he had no case to answer (although the case of three other men proceeded to trial).
R v C - The Defendant in this case was charged with three counts of historical rape against two different young girls. David was instructed as junior Counsel specifically to oppose an application whereby the Crown sought to use, as bad character, evidence of the complaint of a third girl; that opposition was successful.
R v A - The Defendant was charged with sexual assault and ABH in what was, effectively, an attempted rape on a vulnerable woman in the Defendant’s own home. Acquitted.
R v T - David’s client was first on the indictment in a six-handed case alleging historical sexual offences against young boys in a church choir in South London, involving complex legal argument relating to cross-admissibility of evidence from independent complainants, and the admission of ‘bad character’ of non-defendants as important explanatory evidence.
