Tom Little QC successfully responds to Max Clifford’s appeal against conviction

On 2nd April 2019, the Court of Appeal handed down a reserved judgment which rejected Max Clifford’s application for leave to appeal against his conviction. Tom Little QC was one of two advocates representing the Prosecution in the appeal. Although Max Clifford died in December 2017 section 44A of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 allows a narrow class of individuals to pursue an application for leave to appeal against conviction on behalf of the deceased. In this case, Max Clifford’s daughter pursued the out of time appeal. Max Clifford was convicted in 2014 of various historic sexual offences.

Tom Little prosecuted the case at trial. The Court of Appeal allowed the application for an extension of time to appeal out of time but then refused permission to appeal having considered the merits of the appeal. The Court of Appeal’s judgment is important in relation to the circumstances in which a Judge is entitled to withdraw issues of consent relating to sexual offences from the jury.