24hr line (Crime) 07596 997 222
Operation Coil
This was an extremely complex fraud concerning a conspiracy to defraud the publicly funded Government Regional Development Agency, ‘One North East,’ HM Revenue and Customs and the Allied Irish Bank of over £2 million.
The issues in this case were extremely complex and required highly specialist knowledge, legal, accountancy and investigative skills to be brought together. Further, key elements of the grant funding process and institutional lending schemes required thorough analysis and consideration in order to fully and properly advise our client and prepare his defence.
R v M & 13 Others – Teesside Crown Court
The firm was instructed in a drug conspiracy spanning from Liverpool to the North East of England involving 14 defendants. The evidence in this case consisted mainly of telephone evidence and cell-site analysis which the prosecution used to pin-point the defendant to various people and locations in order to try and to prove his guilt.
The defence of this client necessitated thorough analysis of the telephone data provided of our client and his co defendants to disprove the prosecution case and also data that the crown had chosen not to highlight which helped our client.
Operation Brimstone
This case began with a large-scale Trading Standards investigation instigated by Leicestershire County Council after an undercover sting operation into the business practices of traders throughout the Leicester area. These companies sold monitored alarm systems to customers nationwide from as far North as Sheffield to as far south as Oxford and together their trading covered a period of over three years.
The allegations were that the whole business of these companies was based on fraud; that contracts for the alarm systems were signed following fraudulent and misleading cold calls made by employees of the companies after instruction from the directors and then high pressure visits.
We represented our client in a seven week trial at Leicester Crown Court where she faced allegations of conspiracy to commit fraud, fraudulent trading, unfair commercial practices and also charges relating to the very niche area of The Consumer Credit Act. The value of the fraud was over £1m.
This case was a complex, paper-heavy Trading Standards prosecution which was both technically and legally challenging and involved issues spanning criminal law, regulatory and compliance and also commercial law.
R v B & 2 Others – Wood Green Crown Court
This case concerns a conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration to a member state. Our client was a University Professor involved in various colleges. The prosecution alleges that fake documents were used to enable people to obtain extensions to their visas. Quasi criminal-immigration law is a very complex and niche area of practice with few specialists in this area. This demands a high skill level and expertise in order to properly advise the client and prepare fully his defence. There is also a vast amount of documentation in this case which needed careful consideration by us.
R v B & 2 Others – Newcastle Crown Court
This case involved allegations of insurance fraud against 3 defendants in fraudulent representations regarding the theft of a vehicle. Our client was already in custody in relation to another conviction and in relation to his current case. The bulk of the ‘evidence’ emanated from recordings of telephone calls made by him whilst in custody.
Submissions were made to the authority for obtaining the ‘evidence’ due to issues surrounding RIPA which governs surveillance. Lengthy and persistent submissions were also made to the prosecution regarding other disclosure issues. Eventually, the prosecution offered no evidence and a not guilty verdict was offered. Our tenacity and attention to detail together with our robust defence of the client led to his acquittal. A full understanding and application into the law relating to RIPA and the application of the prison rules (which regulate the prisons) was required.
