22/02/12

36 Bedford Row welcomes Mary Loram

Chambers are pleased to welcome Mary Loram who joins our Criminal Team from Citadel Chambers.

Mary prosecutes and defends cases at the highest level, with a significant practice in the prosecution and defence of all serious sexual offences. She has been a Grade 4 prosecutor since 2007 and was re–graded in 2012 as Grade 4. Mary is regularly instructed in sexual offences with particular difficulties (for example, both defendant and complainant with learning difficulties; particularly old historic offences).

Mary also has significant experience in all types of offences of violence (large scale football violence, stabbings, kidnapping, manslaughter as junior alone, murders as junior) as well as fraud and other offences of dishonesty. She has represented numerous defendants with mental health problems and been involved in cases where an intermediary was used.

22/02/12

February 2012 e–newsletter

Click here to read our February 2012 e–newsletter

01/02/12

January 2012 e–newsletter

 Click here to read our January 2012 e–newsletter.

01/02/12

Paul Prior has successfully prosecuted a theft from employer case at Lincoln Crown Court.

 The Jury found the Defendant guilty of 7 counts of theft of 11 after a 5 day trial. The thefts took place at the Defendants place a employment (a courier company) over the course of a month and a half and included numerous high value items including a laptop and power tools. The case relied heavily on inference as only two of the items were recovered by the Police. Paul had to carefully take the Jury through over 100 pages of documentary exhibits tracking the location of each item. Sentencing is due to take place on 10/2/12.

30/01/12

Frances Oldham QC appears in the Court of Appeal in an important case on conflicting expert evidence in baby killing

Frances Oldham QC appeared for the prosecution in R v NOSHEEN ARSHAD [2012] EWCA Crim 18 where the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of a mother for manslaughter by shaking her baby

The appellant had been at home with her baby (Z), when he collapsed suddenly. Z later died. A triad of injuries were found, namely a low volume subdural haemorrhage, bilateral retinal haemorrhages and a sudden collapse leading to brain injury, which raised the issues of non–accidental injury and Z’s head coming into contact with a hard surface. On that basis, a consultant forensic pathologist concluded that Z had suffered a head injury of the shaking/impact type. 

It was the prosecution’s case, therefore, that unless the injuries could be explained by another cause, the jury could be sure that Z’s death was non–accidental and had occurred in the manner alleged. N contended that there could have been another explanation for Z’s collapse and submitted that the judge had failed to remind the jury that in an area of developing medical science they had to consider the realistic opportunity of an unknown cause. The Court dismissed the appeal on the basis that it was not necessary to expressly state in terms to the jury that there was a need for special caution and that they should not overlook the realistic possibility that the cause of death was unknown, provided that the effect of the summing–up made that clear. T

he judge had reminded the jury that the prosecution expert opined that because the injury was localised, he thought it more likely that the damage was caused by trauma but could have been caused by ischemia, and that other experts had also acknowledged ischemia as a possible cause. 

The judge’s summing–up had been extremely clear and placed the respective cases before the jury. It was plain to the jury that they could only convict N if they were sure that Z’s death had been caused in the manner the prosecution alleged to the exclusion of other possibilities.

20/01/12

The Family Team are recruiting

The Family team at 36 Bedford Row seeks to further strengthen and expand its strong team. We invite experienced family barristers of between 5 years call to Silk, to join us to assist with our existing and expanding caseloads.

Candidates will need to show that they have proven excellence in family law or a desire to develop a specialist family practice from a more general existing practice. Our team has a leading reputation in care proceedings, family finance and private law children matters, including cases with an international dimension. 

We are supported by a progressive and efficient administrative structure within Chambers. 

All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence and should be addressed to Amjad Malik QC, Head of the Recruitment Committee at: amalik@36bedfordrow.co.uk. If you would like a confidential and informal discussion about opportunities in family law at 36 Bedford Row please contact the Head of the Family Team, Andrzej Bojarski at abojarski@36bedfordrow.co.uk or the Senior Clerk, David Green at david@36bedfordrow.co.uk

19/01/12

The Criminal Team are recruiting

The 36 Bedford Row Criminal Team invites applications from senior and junior criminal practitioners, either individually or in groups and especially in the 4–7 and 10+ year call brackets, to join our Team and to assist with our existing and expanding caseloads, in particular in the Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire regions.

Chambers attracts high quality defence and prosecution work in all areas whether privately or publicly funded. If you would like to join our successful team as we expand into 2012, applicants should, in the first instance and in the strictest confidence, contact John Lloyd–Jones, the Head of the Criminal Team, at:
jlloyd-jones@36bedfordrow.co.uk.

36 Bedford Row has a strong history of career development. Recent appointments  include HH Judge David Farrell QC, HH Judge Lynn Tayton QC, HH Judge Rosa Dean and District Judge Rebecca Crane to the bench, and Amjad Malik QC and Jonathan Kirk QC as Queens Counsel.

19/01/12

CPS Grading Success

In addition to our extensive criminal defence work, we are pleased to announce our success in the CPS grading exercise. 36 Bedford Row has 13 senior members at Grade 4; all on the rape panel, 13 members at Grade 3 of whom 10 are on the rape panel, 4 members at Grade 2 and 4 members at Grade 1. Appointments have been made to cover London, the South East, the Midlands, the Northern Eastern and the Northern Circuit.

18/01/12

Rebecca Herbert successfully defends care home manager charged with assault of elderly residents.

After a 6 day trial at Leicester Crown Court, Michelle Cramp, former manager of the Brockshill Woodlands Residential Home in Oadby, Leicester, was acquitted of charges of ill treatment of residents. Mrs Cramp was jointly charged with her husband Malcolm Cramp following an anonymous complaint of assault in 2010, contrary to section 44 of the Mental Capacity Act in 2005. 

Complaints were also made about standards in the home. At the trial, a Care Quality Commission Inspector, 6 former care workers at the home and a resident of the care home were called as witnesses. Mrs Cramp was acquitted of all charges.

06/01/12

36 Bedford Row welcomes Charlotte Yarrow, Sian Cutter and Malcolm Macdonald

Chambers are pleased to welcome Charlotte Yarrow who joins our Criminal Team from Furnival Chambers. Charlotte was called in 1999 and is an experienced junior barrister in general crime but with a strong track record in handling complex fraud and financial crime including money laundering, insider dealing, tax and VAT fraud, advance fee and banking fraud. She has advised and acted for criminal matters in relation to Trademarks law and was in the landmark case in the Court of Appeal and House of Lords of Johnston which successfully led to the re–definition of the criminal defences under the 1994 Trade Marks Act.

Sian Cutter also joins our Criminal Team from KCH Garden Square. Called in 2007, Sian practices in criminal law and is a Grade 2 Prosecutor. She has represented both Defence and Prosecution at the Crown Court, having been briefed in cases involving firearms, multi–defendant fraud matters, money laundering, arson and serious sexual offences. She has also successfully prosecuted cases for the Department of Work and Pensions.

Malcolm Macdonald joins our Family Team. He was admitted to practice in 2004 in Australia and qualified as a Solicitor in 2005 in England. Malcolm was called to the Bar in 2010. Malcolm joins us from Fisher Meredith LLP where he regularly represented children, parents, other family members and Children’s Guardians. Malcolm had higher rights of audience as a Solicitor and was a member of the Law Society’s Children Panel. Prior to joining Fisher Meredith, Malcolm had also worked at and represented Local Authorities in matters related to children. He has now transferred to the Bar to specialise in Family Law including Human Rights/Public Law and Judicial Review. 

06/01/12

Felicity Gerry appears on BBC Breakfast sofa to be interviewed about the Stephen Lawrence murder

The two men convicted of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, 18 years after he was stabbed to death, were sentenced on Wednesday.

 Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty by an Old Bailey jury after a trial based on forensic evidence.

 They were sentenced as juveniles because they were under 18 at the time of the attack, which happened in south–east London on April 1993.

 Dobson, 36, and Norris, 35, received sentences considerably shorter than would an adult convicted of the same crime under today’s laws.

 Felicity Gerry spoke to BBC Breakfast to explain more, click here to watch the video clip.

 Members of 36 Bedford Row were involved in the McPherson Inquiry which highlighted institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police after blunders made by police in the original Lawrence murder investigation

03/01/12

James Collins successfully represents the Claimant in the case of R v Secretary of State for the Home Department on the application of Ali Polat.

In the first case to come before the High Court on the issue as to whether a person who admits possession of a firearm and ammunition and further admits support for a proscribed terrorist organisation (the PKK) is excluded from the ‘One off Exercise to allow Qualifying Asylum Seeking Families to stay in the UK’, in a comprehensive reserved judgment the Court ruled that the Claimant was not excluded.

 Mr Ali Polat, the Claimant, is a Turkish national of Kurdish ethnicity. By a claim for judicial review, he sought to challenge the decision of the Secretary of State refusing his application for indefinite leave to remain in the UK under a concessionary policy known as the One Off Exercise to allow Qualifying Asylum Seeking Families to stay in the UK” (”the One Off Exercise”). The Secretary of State’s decision was made by letters dated 28 April 2010 and 6 August 2010. In those letters, the Secretary of State decided that the Claimant did not qualify under the One Off Exercise because his case fell within Article 1F(b) and 1F(c) of the 1951 Refugee Convention and on that basis he was excluded not only from the Refugee Convention but also the One off Exercise.

 As to Article 1F(b), the Secretary of State concluded that there were serious reasons for considering that the Claimant had committed a serious non–political crime prior to coming into the UK, namely that, in or around July 1996, he had been in possession of a pistol and ammunition. As to Article 1F(c), the Secretary of State concluded that there were serious reasons for considering that the Claimant had committed acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations, namely that he had been actively involved in the Parti Karkerani Kurdistan (”the PKK”), a terrorist organisation, to the extent of encouraging people in an armed struggle against the Turkish government and in particular that he was involved in an incident on 2 July 1996 involving the PKK where people were killed.

The Claimant’s case was that his possession of a gun and ammunition was not sufficient to bring the Claimant within the ambit of Article 1F(b) and that further and in any event Article 1F(b) was irrelevant to the One off Exercise. As to Article 1F(c) the Claimant argued that his political activities in Turkey for the PKK were not sufficiently serious to constitute acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the UN on the basis of the test to establish such conduct set out in the Supreme Court decision of R (JS (Sri Lanka)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 15. Accordingly it was submitted that the Secretary of State’s decisions were unlawful.

In a reserved and comprehensive judgment and having analysed all the leading case law the Court accepted each argument advanced on behalf of Mr Polat including one to the effect that unlike under the 1951 Refugee Convention “serious non political crime” pursuant to Article 1F(b) is not in fact a ground for exclusion under the One off Exercise.

On that basis the decisions of the Secretary of State were found to be unlawful.

The outcome of the judgment is that whilst the same general principles apply to exclusion under the One off Exercise as under the 1951 Refugee Convention Article 1F(b) plays no part in exclusion under the One off Exercise.

Click Here to read the Judgement