Crime

Overview

Our talented team of criminal barristers are well regarded, successful, professional and approachable with members at all levels of seniority both prosecuting and defending across the whole spectrum of criminal law.

We have an experienced team that includes Senior Treasury Counsel and King’s Counsel, leading and junior counsel, many of whom are ranked in Chambers and Partners and Legal 500. Members of chambers also frequently train others in advocacy, most recently providing advocacy training to the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) in The Hague.

More junior members bring experience of other practice areas, such as inquests and civil actions against the police to their criminal advocacy. This combination of breadth of practice and depth of experience enables us to provide a service to our clients which we consider cannot be matched by more traditional criminal sets.

The team is clerked by David Landa and Lauren Carter, who between them have a wealth of experience, and are highly regarded. They are efficient, professional and approachable and are able to assist you in choosing the right barrister for your case, liaising with you and the courts as the case proceeds.

We regularly appear in high profile, sensitive and difficult cases both in the Crown Court and at Appellate level. These including homicide and serious violence, terrorism, serious organised crime and serious sexual offences such as child abuse and rape. Please see our separate page for our Fraud and Financial Crime work.

All of our members are CPS Panel Advocates, whilst many of our members are on more specialist lists; the CPS Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Panel, the Serious Crime Group Panel, the Serious Fraud Office Panel, the Regulatory Panel, the Counter Terrorism Panel and the Extradition Panel.

Whilst most of our work is in the Crown Court on the South Eastern Circuit, our members also regularly appear in the Court of Appeal, Administrative/Divisional Court, and Magistrates’ Courts in every part of the country.

Crime Expertise

Notable Cases

  • R v Wayne Couzens
    Prosecuting the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard
  • R v Bottarelli
    Prosecution of a maintenance worker at Central Middlesex Hospital, who attempted to kill several of his colleagues during a spree of unprovoked and savage attacks.
  • R v BP
    Secured acquittal (conviction for lesser offence of manslaughter) in a 4-handed murder involving Zombie knives
  • R v DC
    High-profile prosecution of a police officer who was convicted of 49 counts including over 70 serious sexual offences against 13 victims and sentenced to life imprisonment with a tariff of 32 years.
  • R v NS, SR, SU and NB
    Prosecution of 4 defendants arranging international criminality on a massive scale involving hundreds of kilos of raw Ketamine imported to Germany for processing and onward supply to the UK and two importations of 46 tonnes of Cocaine direct from South America.
  • R v BX
    Defending in a double rape.
  • R v TT
    High-profile case of a neo-Nazi extremist who targeted prominent politicians, including Jeremy Corbyn MP, Dominic Grieve MP, Hilary Benn MP, and John Bercow MP, threatening them with “a white tsunami of hate and revenge”, as part of a sustained campaign of virulently racist, anti-Semitic, and violent abuse.
  • R v A & Ors
    Multi-handed conspiracy concerning the importation and supply of Class A drugs, which were smuggled into the UK via Dover under the guise of a furniture removal business, utilising sophisticated hides. The largest importation was approximately 1.5 tonnes of cocaine concealed within a shipping container of bananas from Columbia.
  • R v Anderson
    Prosecution of an attempted murder involving a shooting between rival gangs on a busy street in broad daylight shortly after the making of a drill video.
  • Operation Malina
    First ever prosecution brought under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to involve trafficking victims for the purposes of carrying out fraud.  Nearly thirty vulnerable young girls were physically and sexually exploited by a gang led by Isaiah Olugosi.
  • R v Thomas Mair
    High profile murder of Jo Cox MP.
  • R v Max Clifford
    Prosecution of media mogul for sexual offences.
  • Operation Callahan
    Prosecuting the first offences under the Wireless Telecommunications Act and fraud, committed by business setting up an unregistered telecommunications network and defrauding Vodafone.

      This common law set has a formidable criminal team.

      Legal 500

      Crime Barristers

      King's Counsel

      Tom Little KC

      Call 1997 | Silk 2018

      James Thacker KC

      Call 2001 | Silk 2024

      Juniors (15 years +)

      Jonathan Loades

      Call 1986

      Louise McCullough

      Call 1991

      Gareth Munday

      Call 2000

      Eleanor Mawrey

      Call 2001

      Giles Bedloe

      Call 2001

      Jennifer Oborne

      Call 2007

      Thom Dyke

      Call 2007

      Patricia Londono

      Call 2008

      Juniors

      William Dean

      Call 2011

      Stephanie Hayward

      Call 2011

      Helen Pooley

      Call 2012

      Laura Hibberd

      Call 2013

      Thomas Jones

      Call 2015

      Kyah Mufti

      Call 2016

      Jake Richards

      Call 2017

      Theodore Bunce

      Call 2017

      Lucy Lodewyke

      Call 2018

      Francesca Kolar

      Call 2018

      Amelia Katz

      Call 2018

      Madeleine Miller

      Call 2019

      Louise Thomson

      Call 2019

      Thomas Clarke

      Call 2022

      Associate Members

      Catherine Atkinson

      Call 2006

      Senior Clerks

      David Landa

      Senior Criminal Clerk

      Practice Managers

      Lauren Carter

      Practice Manager

      Junior Clerks

      Abigail Clark

      Junior Clerk

      Latest News & Events

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      Tenancy Announcement: Megan Bithel-Vaughan and Julia Brechtelsbauer

      Today we are pleased to welcome Megan Bithel-Vaughan and Julia Brechtelsbauer as our newest tenants, following the successful completion of their pupillages. Julia and Megan are accepting instructions across all of Deka’s practice areas in civil, criminal and family law. Please contact our clerks for…

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