Category: News

Ranjeet Dulay this week commenced a highly topical trial, involving allegations of electoral fraud.

Five defendants stand accused of having registered for postal votes in a ward in which they did not in fact live, with a view to ensuring the election of Liberal Democrat candidate Mohammed Bashir, the second defendant’s brother.  In the event, Mr Bashir was elected to Woking Borough Council by just sixteen votes.

The trial, which is taking place at Reading Crown Court, continues.  Further detail about the case can be found here.

A specially constituted five judge Court of Appeal today gave judgment in R v Hunter and Others, clarifying the scope of good character directions, which have become the subject of a significant volume of the applications made to the Court.

The panel, which included the Lord Chief Justice and both the President and Vice-President of the Queen’s Bench Division, conducted a comprehensive review of the authorities in this area, and considered the impact on defendants of good character (or ‘effective’ good character) of the codification within the Criminal Justice Act 2003 of the law on the admissibility of evidence of bad character.  In particular, the Court found that, in cases where a defendant has no previous convictions but has admitted reprehensible conduct, the nature of the trial judge’s discretion to give an ‘effective’ good character direction has changed: it is now “open textured”, not (as the House of Lords had found in R v Aziz [1996] AC 41) “narrowly circumscribed”.

Gwawr Thomas acted as junior counsel for one of the five appellants, having secured leave to appeal out of time.

The judgment can be read here.

1MCB’s Actions Against the Police Team, working in partnership with the Legal Advice Centre at Queen Mary University London, McMillan Williams Solicitors and LawWorks, has launched an innovative new telephone helpline providing free advice to victims of police misconduct.  Police Action Legal Line (PALL) offers advice in relation to the full spectrum of claims against the police, including those arising from wrongful arrest, assault, unlawful searches and discrimination.

The helpline can be reached on 020 7452 8902. The line is open on Wednesday evenings, between 6 and 8pm. However, a voicemail system is in operation at other times: calls will be returned at the next session.

Follow PALL on Twitter @PoliceActionLL

Dangerous Dogs Act specialist Pamela Rose has been invited to speak at Government Knowledge’s policy briefing, ‘A New Strategy to Tackle Dangerous Dogs: Assessing the Reforms to the Dangerous Dogs Act’.  Alongside other leading experts in the field of dangerous dogs law, Pamela will participate in a panel session analysing the new legislative powers available to the police and local authorities.

The event will take place on 12th May 2015.  A full programme for the briefing can be viewed here, whilst tickets can be purchased here.

1MCB is pleased to welcome two new tenants.

Cynthia McFarlane is an experienced barrister of twelve years call, with an established practice that spans crime, family and civil.  She is also an accredited mediator in all areas of law.

Rayan Imam has joined Chambers following the successful completion of her pupillage, during which she proved herself to be a skilful barrister and rapidly established her popularity with our solicitors.

Christa Fielden recently secured success in an ‘Operation Nexus’ deportation appeal in which her client was described as “one of the most fearsome criminals in London”.

The appellant, said to be “an enforcer”, had five convictions, and the police’s oral evidence and the CRIS reports relied upon covered seventeen other incidents, some involving fatal shootings, as well as police intelligence which could not be fully disclosed for operational reasons.  DVD footage allegedly showing the appellant to be a gang member was also shown in the course of the hearing.

Although dismissed under the Immigration Rules, the appeal was allowed under Article 8, in a determination that ran to 110 pages.  Although the Secretary of State was granted permission to appeal, the Upper Tribunal upheld the First Tier Tribunal’s determination following a contested error of law hearing.

1MCB is proud to announce that David Stephenson has been appointed to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Preferred Counsel.

Former Head of Chambers Tony Gifford QC has been appointed as leading counsel for the Office of the Public Defender at the West Kingston Inquiry, which is now sitting in Kingston, Jamaica.

The inquiry is examining the events of May 2010, when the Jamaican military and police carried out a massive operation in Tivoli Gardens in order to execute an arrest warrant for the extradition of a local “don” Christopher “Dudus” Coke.  Seventy-five civilians and one soldier were killed during the operation.  The Public Defender, Jamaica’s human rights ombudsman, received hundreds of complaints of unlawful killings, injuries, abuse and damage to property. Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding testified at the Inquiry, which is chaired by former Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmonds.

The 1MCB Immigration and Asylum Update (IAU) will provide regular short summaries about notable or informative immigration and asylum cases to assist practitioners in quickly assessing what newly reported cases are about.  The updates will not provide a lengthy analysis, but a practical summary to ensure ease of reference.

Updates will be provided by the Immigration Team at 1MCB and edited by Vyaj Lovejoy and Bernadette Smith.

To sign up to receive regular immigration and asylum case updates please email us at iau@1mcb.com.

Also please do follow us on twitter @ImmAsylumUpdate.

1MCB is delighted to announce the election of John Benson QC and Benjamin Hawkin as Head and Deputy Head of Chambers, respectively.

Chambers wishes to take this opportunity to thank outgoing Head and Deputy Head Lord Gifford QC and Jeffrey Yearwood for their leadership and unstinting hard work.  We are pleased that both will continue to practise from 1MCB.

John Benson QC said: “These are exciting times for 1MCB and to have been elected Head of Chambers is a great honour. Tony Gifford has set the bar very high and it will be a formidable challenge to follow in his illustrious footsteps. I look forward to working with Ben Hawkin and all members to build on the success and reputation of our set”.

Michael Chambers represented a 17 year old defendant who, along with his elder sister and another young woman, were convicted of the horrific revenge rape of a 15 year old girl.

The defendant’s sister taunted the victim that ‘snitches get stiches’ after the girl had told others that the defendant had been involved in an assault and that his co-defendants had themselves been raped.  The victim was confronted by the two co-defendants before being corralled into an alleyway, where she was then forced to perform oral sex on the defendant whilst others looked on.

The case, which took place at the Central Criminal Court, attracted coverage in The Guardian and The Daily Mail.

On 19th December 2014, a jury at the Old Bailey returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on counts of solicitation to murder and threats to kill in respect of a defendant represented by Jose Olivares-Chandler.  They did so within an hour, notwithstanding that the trial judge had allowed the jury to hear evidence of the defendant’s previous convictions for possession of a handgun, a firearm and Class A drugs with intent to supply, as well as a GBH allegation involving the same complainant and letters sent to the complainant by the defendant which included threats to kill and harm her.