David Nathan QC and Paul Williams obtain Not Guilty Verdicts for the lead Defendant in Murder and s.18 Trial at Southwark CC

After a 3 week Trial, the jury accepted the Defendant was acting in lawful self defence when he used a knife to stab 2 men who were part of a group confronting the Defendants late at night in an altercation at the Elephant and Castle tube station: One man died from his wounds and the other was seriously injured. The Prosecution case was that the Defendant, along with his younger nephew and Co-Defendant, lured the group into a trap on a stairwell and then attacked them with knives: The Jury plainly rejected this alleged scenario by their verdicts of Not Guilty of all charges

Nigel Edwards QC and Nichola Cafferkey finished their first trial since lockdown on Friday with their lay client being acquitted of Joint Enterprise Murder and Section 18. The jury took a day and a half to decide upon the incident, which was caught on CCTV at Elephant and Castle Underground Station. Self defence was the central issue for both defendants.

Nichola Cafferkey appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday to act on behalf of her client charged with murder, attempted murder & firearms offences. The case was reported by the BBC.

Ravinder Saimbhi has been briefed  to represent a client charged with arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence at Snaresbrook Crown court. PTPH next week. The case will involve consideration of psychiatric issues and the potential use of intermediary support for a vulnerable defendant. Instructed by Kevin Williams at GT Stewart.

At a sentencing hearing and having been privately instructed. Dudley Beal was once again victorious in his defence of a client charged with having no driving licence, no insurance and no valid MOT certificate. Having successfully argued for the finding of ’Special Reasons’, Dudley was able to persuade the court to impose no penalty points for any of the offences nor to disqualify the client, whom would otherwise haven fallen foul to automatic disqualification under both the new driver regulations and totting provisions. Costs were successfully argued down to the barest of minimums and the only punishment being that of a small financial penalty that could be paid on the day.

Mohammed Saqib triumphs at Woolwich Crown Court with a huge success for his client. The defendant, at sentence was facing a starting point of 4 years 6 months for two class a possession with intent to supply offences. Mohammed was able to secure a 24 month suspended sentence and a community order consisting of 140 hours unpaid work, 20 RAR days and an electronically monitored tag for 24 weeks.

Annahita Moradi delivered a workshop for the Director of a regional legal charity on, advising on: support services that could be offered to survivors of exploitation and crime, holding government bodies such as the police to account for failures to protect survivors, and undergoing policy based research.

Annahita Moradi will deliver an online workshop later this month aimed at youths and young adults on police duties towards survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery. The training will cover identifying exploitative behaviours, survivors' rights, and the principal of non-punishment when encountered by police as enshrined in domestic and international law. A poster for the event will be published next week.

Please follow our social media accounts for announcements on webinars next week. 

Have a great weekend all. 

Jamie