Four 3PB barristers secure acquittals for two defendants in major Conspiracy to Supply cocaine trial
14th February 2024
Four 3PB criminal law barristers - Nick Robinson, Tom Evans, David Jenkins and Oliver Hirsch (pictured top left to bottom right) - have successfully defended two clients in a major Conspiracy to Supply Class A drugs trial, following Operation Krill which was an extensive surveillance operation lasting more than a year.
Three individuals were charged with Conspiracy to Supply cocaine and two stood trial in December 2023. AD was alleged to have been the head of the organised crime group responsible for distributing multiple kilograms of high-purity cocaine across the South of England. SA was alleged to have been acting as a courier and was arrested during the sting operation, driving a Mercedes with nearly a kilo of cocaine secreted in a hidden compartment.
When AD was arrested, the key telephone used to control the organised crime group was located in his car. He was also forensically linked to the ‘stash house’ where a hydraulic press and significant quantities of cocaine and heroin were seized. This DNA-link was successfully excluded pre-trial following AD’s defence team obtaining supportive expert evidence.
AD’s case was that he had been framed and that the telephone had been planted in his car. SA’s position was that he had not known the nature of the package he had been asked to transport and that on collection, he and his family had been threatened.
Following the cross-examination of covert surveillance officers, and a contested section 8 disclosure application, the Defence teams obtained surveillance logs which revealed major disclosure failings in the prosecution.
The Crown conceded that a full review was necessary, which required the jury to be discharged over halfway through a four week trial. In advance of anticipated applications to stay the indictment, on 8 February 2024 the Crown offered no evidence against both AD and SA.
AD was represented by 3PB's Nick Robinson, leading David Jenkins. SA was represented by 3PB's Tom Evans, leading Oliver Hirsch.
Nick and David were instructed by Seema Dosaj of Berris Law. Tom and Oliver were instructed by Dwayne Lewis of Renshaw Derrick.
Related Articles
-
3PB crime barrister Thomas Acworth represented DB, a vulnerable man with serious health issues, who was charged with conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to transfer ammunition. Together with others, DB was said to have converted legal, blank-firing pistols into operational, lethal handguns. The handguns were then supplied to other organised criminal groups around the country. Some were used in gangland shootings. At sentence, HHJ Real accepted Thomas’ ‘focused and realistic’ submissions about DB’s role...
Continue reading -
3PB's specialist criminal defence barrister Nick Robinson, pictured here, has successfully defended four different clients in four separate Crown Court trials during January 2024. AC was unanimously acquitted of a Sexual Assault. AC was experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. He was being pursued by a group of youths when he hid behind a tree in a public park. After a short time, AC approached a 7-year old girl, and asked for her...
Continue reading -
3PB's criminal and regulatory barrister Graham Gilbert, pictured here, successfully resisted an application by the Solicitor General, Alex Chalk KC MP, to the Court of Appeal to increase his client, convicted burglar and drug dealer Otis Tomney's two-year suspended sentence as “unduly lenient”. Otis Tomney, who was represented throughout the original burglary case and this sentence appeal by barrister Graham Gilbert, had over 120 previous offences for drug-dealing, burglary, and weapons offences. Graham was instructed...
Continue reading -
3PB are delighted to announce that employment barrister Matthew Curtis and criminal law barrister, Berenice Mulvanny (pictured here) have been appointed part-time Deputy District Judges - to officiate on the Western Circuit (to hear civil cases), and in the Magistrates Courts respectively. Berenice was called to the Bar in 2009. She is a specialist practitioner instructed on the most serious offences on the Western Circuit, including murder, rape and other serious sexual offences, fraud and...
Continue reading
