Serious Crime

Charterhouse Foundation Scholar

York University, English 2.1, Athletics Half Blue

Married with 2 sons

Director of Potterton Books, International publishers and sellers of applied art books with branches in London, New York and Los Angeles

Specialises in cases of murder, including radically motivated and "honour" killings.

Fraud and money laundering

Electoral Fraud

Considerable experience in "cold case" re-investigations and in cases founded on DNA evidence. Recently instructed in a number of cases in which medical issues were vital to issues of causation.

Class 2 Recorder

R v Nick Griffin - BNP race hate prosecution. Successful defence that inflammatory speeches were motivated by religious, rather than racial hatred led to a change in the law (Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006)

R v Ronald Castree - The murder of Leslie Molseed. Cold case re-investigation from 2001-2004 led to the re-opening of this historic murder case following the quashing of the 1977 conviction of Stefan Kisko,. the most notorious miscarriage of justice this circuit has seen. Case founded almost entirely on DNA evidence and involved detailed investigation of the reliability of "cold case" techniques

R v Jamshed Khan - Allegation of Electoral Fraud. Re-trial imminent

R v Parmjot Singh Tut - Allegation that this young defendant involved in the attempted assassination of a rival for the presidency of the Handsworth temple in Birmingham successfully defended

R v Matthew Stringer - Prosecution of 16 year old for the murder, by arson, of his own brother. Court proceedings adapted to account for the age and capacity of the Defendant and many young witnesses

R v Mark Fitzgerald - Prosecution of a professional burglar of the homes of old people who killed a 93 year old woman during the course of one such burglary. Highly complex medical issues as to causation of death required the marshalling of consultants from many disciplines

R v Sharon Moran - Charged with the murder by stabbing of her violent partner. Defence of self-defence/accident successful. Sensitive case involving difficult issues relating to domestic violence

R v Andrea Wheatcroft - One of four defendants charged with the murder of her niece's lover, whose bound and gagged body was found in tidal waters off the Lancashire coast. During the trial, cross examination on behalf of AW of one of the co-accused (who was running a cut throat defence) led him to admitting that he had killed the victim and that AW was not involved. Acquitted

R v Geldard & Armitage - Landlord and Doorman of Big Lil's in Leeds, charged with kicking a customer to death after betting to see if they could provoke him into fighting. Difficult issues of joint-enterprise. Use of lip reading evidence (from CCTV footage) one of the factors leading to a complete revue of the reliability of this form of evidence by the Court of Appeal

R v Lee Camplin - Charged with the murder of his partner's very young child. Verdict of manslaughter achieved in the face of horrific evidence

R v Paul Garner - Doorman of Yates Wine Bar, York, charged with the murder of a customer. Defence of self-defence led to acquittal despite the killing being captured on CCTV

R v Sabir Khan - The Leeds Road, Bradford shooting. SK the only defendant to be acquitted