Recognised and ranked in Crime & Financial Crime for years, Charlie’s practice & name as one of the go-to silks in Murder, Sexual Offences, Serious Organised Crime, White Collar Fraud, Private Appeals, Private Prosecutions and Regulatory work, has never been stronger. He is regularly instructed on a direct access basis. This explains why Charlie was instructed in cases such as the killing of Jodie Chesney, the first FGM trial, numerous gangland murders, historic multiple-complainant rape cases, the murder at HMP Pentonville, numerous Carbon Credit & tax frauds, the worst multiple death case in UK history on our roads and the UBS rogue trader trial.
Recognition has now included since being appointed as a Recorder of the Crown Court in 2019.
Charlie’s sustained reputation is based on his painstaking preparation, an assiduous eye for detail and sympathetic client care. He has a great ability to switch from fierce, aggressive cross examination to incredibly sensitive in order achieve the best results for his varied clients. His work ethic and personal attention to detail have resulted in continual recommendations by word of mouth and professional contacts.
Charlie has been a regular legal expert guest on LBC News Radio with Nick Ferrari, Theo Usherwood & most recently Shelagh Fogerty regarding the Manchester Bomber case. Was legal advisor to LBC regarding the Labour Party file of anti-semitism. Recently introduced by Andre Morgan on LBC News London as “LBC News Radio’s foremost legal analyst” when discussing the fallout from the parole board decision in the case of John Warboys.
Legal advisor to The Sun regarding Ched Evans acquittal and relevant law.
Expert contributor on Channel 1 Europe TV to Bengali community on Cyber Crime & Money Laundering
Notable Cases & Profile:
Even in lockdown, Charlie has been extremely busy in court including most recently defending in R-v- JB [Aylesbury Crown Court] involving historic and recent sexual abuse case of 7 connected complainants over a 10 year period. Before that, Charlie secured acquittals in long running, multi handed murder trials at Woolwich Crown Court in case of R-v-WB [a gangland stabbing] and Leamington Spa, R-v-KM. Last July he successfully submitted a no-case-to-answer in R-v-BT, murder trial in Luton. High profile successes have been seen in R-v-IS [the father of a 3 year old in the leading FGM prosecution at the start of 2019]; in R-v-JJF [18 yr old indicted in multiple revenge killings arising out of North London gangland rivalry]; R-v-JR [HMP Pentonville murder trial]; R-v-MA [ lead defendant in multi-handed Afghan murder]; R-v-MA [Turkish student murder trial] and even when representing an absent Turkish defendant accused of male rape [R v O]. Additional profile cases have included R-v-M [the infamous ‘M1 lorry driver’ following Britain’s worst ever road incident]; R v YC, [Turkish gangland revenge execution], & R-v-OH [a sawn-off execution in West London and many others.
Since taking silk in 2012, Charlie’s resourceful and powerful tactical expertise, together with a dedicated hands-on preparation and management of cases, has been recognised by continual instruction in a series of high profile and complex fraud cases. Tax and boiler room frauds feature in his key caseload. In a highly competitive field, Charlie has bucked the trend by being continuously busy and constantly in demand.
As soon as he took silk, he gained significant credit and media coverage for his unstinting and powerful defence of Kweku Adoboli [aka The UBS Rogue Trader] when taking on the might of the Swiss Bank and securing unexpected acquittals on all false accounting counts despite the seemingly overwhelming evidence. Another notable client, unpopular with many, but successfully acquitted of a large scale income tax fraud, was Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson [ex leader of the EDL]. Success in the white-collar field has seen him successfully secure the acquittal of SJ, son to a notable peer, in the fraud and feud arising out of the capital raising by the board of JD Sports.
Similar success in the white-collar field has been achieved in Carousel Frauds in Liverpool [Operation Forbear] securing the only acquittal in the whole operation, and not guilty verdicts for a solicitor said to be at the heart of a fraud on the Olympic Development Authority [Operation Cavalcade] in a long running fraud trial at Southwark. Other notable and high-profile fraud cases have seen Charlie represent other professionals, this time an accountant, at the heart of a massive property fraud [R-v-Entwistle & others] and a banking consultant in Operation Amazon.
In the Regulatory field, Charlie has been retained as Counsel by a leading international firm of private investigators in addition to a firm of liquidators and tennis coaches appearing before the LTA. His advice has covered such diverse areas as Inquests, Cyber Crime, Sports Law and an increasing number of Private Prosecutions. In 2019, Charlie’s recent Inquest work has contributed to major changes into Health & Safety provisions at a Thameslink Station and assisting in step-free access.
Direct Access work is accepted
Director of Furnival Chambers, Chairman of Pupillage
R v Remi Gordon and others (2023): Described as ‘murder on the dancefloor’, KC is alleged to have stabbed a former Birmingham City footballer in the chest on Boxing Day 2022 in a nightclub. This received enormous public attention and was one of those shocking cases that has continued to remain in the public eye during trial. It is a cutthroat and joint enterprise murder born out of a previous incident on Christmas Eve but is yet another that involves the use of zombie knives. As stated, this defendant is accused of being the actual killer. News story here
R-v-Prabjeet Vaedhesa (2022): The defendant was a mere 16 years old. A devout Hindu schoolboy, he had discovered zombie knives and machetes as a way of making money by trading in them and selling them at school. If that wasn’t scary enough, he decided, along with a friend of his, to receive delivery of ninja swords and use them to confront a rival schoolboy that had been bullying them. They went out, wearing covid masks and confronted a schoolboy that they were sure was the one bullying them but in fact it was one of their close friends. This defendant ended up running at the deceased with his sword out and stabbed him twice killing him at the scene. This was a tragic case of a young man dealing in vicious weapons against a background where his father was in fact on the run for murder already. News story here
R-v-Davies and others (2023): Unlike many gang-related murders, this case was relatively spontaneous. An innocuous incident occurred at a petrol station resulting in two cars full of defendants making their way to get some knives before tracking down those involved at the petrol station. At the point of attack, one was killed, and two others were stabbed as well. News story here
R-v-Hamza Ul Haq and others (2023): This murder was one of a number of revenge tit-for-tat killings in 2017 between the ‘Mali Boys’ and the Priory Court/Higham Hill gangs in Northeast London. The first murder was in 2017. As a result of that killing, the defendants identified two individuals that they believed had been responsible for initiating an acid attack in a café. Despite wrongly identifying two youths, plans were put in place to track them down, tool up and exact full revenge. The defendant Ul Haq had already been convicted of the second one in time. This trial, concerning 2 carloads of defendants, took nearly 6 years to be brought to trial given the sheer volume of material. The trial lasted 3 months. News story here
R-v-Cameron Baker & Rio Scott (2023): Rio Scott was acquitted following a 5-week trial in Winchester Crown Court before a High Ct Judge. The incident occurred on the Isle of Wight at the defendant’s home. A ‘friend’ of his had become increasingly jealous on seeing the co-defendant in the company of his ex-girlfriend. The latter two parties were out for the night with the defendant, and all ended up for a seemingly peaceful night at the defendant’s home. Sadly, at about 3am, the deceased, having encouraged his 85-year-old father to collect him from town and drive him to the defendant’s home, lost his temper calling out the two males to sort out the disrespect. The deceased’s father identified both males as having stabbed his son with no provocation. While the co-defendant was in fact convicted of murder, Mr Scott was acquitted of everything. News story here
CBA
SEC
Fraud Lawyers Association
Association of Private Prosecutors
