Paul Mendelle QC

Head of Chambers

Paul Mendelle QC had a mixed civil and criminal practice for many years but nowadays practises exclusively in defence work, specialising in the most serious criminal offences: murder, armed robbery, multiple rape, drug trafficking, corruption, fraud and money laundering.

He is a very persuasive advocate, who is tactically smart.Chambers UK

Mr Mendelle has built a reputation of excellence and regulatory expertise from the foundations of his well-established criminal and fraud practice and is experienced in representing professional and corporate defendants charged with regulatory offences.

He has been an active committee member of the CBA for many years and succeeded to the Chairmanship in September 2009 after his year as Vice Chairman.

He has been involved in many CBA and Bar Council working parties and for the last two years has engaged in negotiations with the Legal Services Commission and Ministry of Justice over VHCCs, helping to design the new VHCC fixed fee scheme for advocates called GFS Plus which appears in the consultation paper of December 2009.

Articles & Publications

Many CBA working party reports, including those on disclosure in Customs prosecutions, the attendance of witnesses, the regulation of forensic science and sentencing guidelines in death by driving cases.

Associated Work

Criminal Bar Association Vice Chairman and Chairman.
Speaker on Pre-recorded questioning of vulnerable witnesses at LCCSA European Conference 2014, Alicante, Spain.

Professional Memberships

Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association (POCLA)
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA)
Financial Services Lawyers Association (FSLA)

The Legal 500 - The Clients Guide to Law Firms

R v AA- defendant charged with murder, unanimously acquitted of both murder and manslaughter. The defendant had stabbed the deceased in self-defence after robbing him of cannabis at knife-point.
R v AP - acquitted of murder. The defendant and the co-defendant were accused of murdering the deceased while attempting to rob him of his car. Acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
R v HJ - unanimously acquitted of one count of possession of a pipe bomb with intent to endanger life or cause serious damage to property contrary to s. 3(1)(b) Explosive Substances Act. The defendant told her occupation therapist about the bomb the day after finding it in her flat, it had been made by her ex-boyfriend about two years earlier. Convicted of simple possession on the basis she had never reported it to the authorities.
R v Perry and Ors - Fatal shooting by a gang outside a snooker club in West Norwood, accused of another shooting a month later outside a nightclub in Smithfield Market
R v Lewis and Ors - Gangland revenge shooting outside a take-away restaurant in Harrow Road. The victim was mistaken for a member of a rival gang who had murdered the brother of the alleged gunman.
R v G - Defendant alleged to have shot and stabbed the victim in his home in North London over £250,000 debt said to have been owed to the deceased, a Kosovan national engaged with others in multi-million pound thefts of money from parking meters.
R v R -Case awaiting trial at the Central Criminal Court, 19 counts of serious sexual assaults, including Rape of five separate victims.
R v C Client alleged to have brutally murdered with an axe, found embedded in the head of the victim in a pub car park in March 1987. The case is complicated by allegations of involvement, corruption and incompetence by the Metropolitan Police. The victim’s family have fought for a public enquiry for over twenty years. The arrest of our defendant was based on the evidence of a “Supergrass”.
R -v- Barzey and Ors -Defendant charged with murder, attempted murder and violent disorder along with 11 others following a juvenile street battle in Hackney. Cut throat defences.
R v Connelly & Ors –Acted for the mother of “Baby P “ in separate murder and cruelty trials.
R v Ikram & Anr Father, accused of murdering or causing/allowing death of young son said to have died as the result of the actions of one and the failure of the other parent to prevent the death. The complexity of the legal issues at trial and in sentencing are demonstrated by the appeals; [2008] Cr. App. R. 24; [2008] 2 Cr. App. R. (S.) 114
R v Fitzgerald & Others – One of three brothers accused of the brutal murder of a father of four in which he was stabbed to death by a vigilante mob. The gang launched a commando-style revenge raid on his home after wrongly believing he was responsible for an assault on one of them up a few hours earlier.
R v Gordon - acted for main defendant in a high profile shooting outside of a nightclub in Hackney who claimed he shot victim in self defence.
R v Baptiste – Fatal stabbing 14 year old Martin Dinnegan by a gang of youths in North London. Case attracted extensive media attention
R v Tucker & Ors – High profile shooting of a young father in Canning Town in 2006 after failure of police to arrest perpetrators of knife assault earlier that year.
R v Regan & Ors - (The Chohan Family Murders) – acted for the main defendant accused of murdering five members of the same family to gain control of business, burying their bodies before later exhuming and dumping them at sea to avoid detection. The Old Bailey’s longest-ever murder trial, lasting 9 months, later the subject of a Channel 4 documentary.
R v O & Ors – Acted for main defendant in serious case of drugs trafficking, supply of firearms, money laundering and perverting the course of justice. One of the first cases involving SOCPA agreement.
R v Nduka & Ors– Well-organised gang who targeted sex workers in West London, torturing and robbing them before murdering their last victim.
R v Hooper & Ors - £100 million conspiracy to import/supply cannabis & cocaine. First ever trial involving super-grass evidence from Michael Michaels. 2 week abuse of process argument on entrapment involving detailed cross-examination of senior police officers.
R v Russell & Ors – Acted for one of principal defendants in police corruption case, one of first in which Special Counsel were assigned on behalf of the defendant to make submissions on PII material.
R v R –Multiple rapes of elderly women committed by man dubbed “Southwark Rapist”, trial based wholly on three different types of DNA evidence.
R v Kunowski – Polish serial sex offender who murdered 12 year-old girl in her home in West London. The defendant was traced through DNA on a single hair and tried seven years after the offence.
R v Danila & Ors –Acted for leading member of Romanian gang who chased rival gang victim into the back of an ambulance in North London and beat him to death.
R v Ryan & Ors – Acted for killer in three-handed contract murder who confessed to his ex-girlfriend. Shotgun found pursuant to confession shown not to be weapon by defence expert scientific evidence relating to corrosion rate for steel barrel and decay of wooden stock.
R v Gary Roper – Single-punch manslaughter trial.
R v Amar Hussain – Multi handed murder between rival gangs.
R v Khan & Anr- Acted for one of two brothers accused of murder by plunging screwdriver into temple of victim.
R v Ross –Serious assault by shoplifter blinded Asian shopkeeper who received nationwide press and television publicity as “have a go’ hero.

Terrorism

R v- Muhid – Solicitation to murder charges arising out of Muslim protests against Danish cartoons

Appellate practice includes:

R v Elliott (murder)
R v Croad (homosexual rapes)
R v Potamitis (fraud)
R v Muhid (terrorism)
R v Ikram (causing/allowing death of child)

Fraud and Financial Regulation

R v D'Albertson - Multi- national Boiler room fraud with an escrow company based in the UK issuing shares to investors, alleged to have defrauded investors of £4 million over 2 years.
R v Marsden & Ors: Multi-million-pound carousel VAT fraud involving telephones and computer chips, defendant’s role being both buffer company and money launderer.
R v Thorne & Ors: Alcohol diversion fraud causing loss to the exchequer of £4million.
R v Fela Omi & Ors Housing benefit and social security fraud involving false identities and counterfeit documents.
R v Selfe & Ors - £50 million cigarette diversion fraud involving the importation of cigarettes alleged to be concealed in genuine loads carried by defendant’s legitimate road haulage business.

Proceeds of Crime Act

R v Axelsen & Anr – Money laundering/tax evasion trial of proceeds of Jubilee Line Fraud. Intended to be the 2nd trial before that case collapsed.
R v Tascon & Ors – Multi-million pound money laundering case for one of the largest-ever South American Cocaine importation conspiracies involving covert and intrusive surveillance.
R v Davies & Ors – Money-laundering case for main defendant who claimed the £18 million exported in cash was his proceeds of gambling on horses.
R v Ersoy – International money laundering of drug proceeds between South America, Spain, the Far East and Switzerland.
R v Finn – Confiscation hearing for Heathrow baggage handler convicted of large-scale drug importation conspiracy.

Professional Disciplinary and Regulatory

The British Horse Racing Association v Darren May & Others: Successfully defended against allegations of race fixing and associated betting scams.
Serious Fraud Office v D & Others: Breaches of Section 19 and 20 of the Financial Services and Markets Act resulting in multi million pound client losses.