Homicide (Murder and Manslaughter)
3PB prides itself on its exceptionally strong team of Queen’s Counsel and experienced Junior Counsel who regularly appear in cases of murder, manslaughter and other cases involving death across the Western Circuit and nationally. Members of the team are instructed by both defence solicitors and the Crown Prosecution Service (including HQ and the Complex Casework Unit) and have enjoyed notable success in cases, including those involving diminished responsibility, loss of control, self defence, and post traumatic stress disorder. Many of the cases undertaken by the team attract national media coverage.
Members of the team have appeared in key Court of Appeal cases dealing with important aspects of murder and manslaughter from joint enterprise to the availability of partial defences to murder. The team also possess significant collective experience of homicides involving complex and highly specialised medical and pathological evidence, the deaths of young children and babies, and all aspects of gross negligence manslaughter.
Whatever the background to the case, members of the team provide strong, focussed advocacy in court together with first rate legal knowledge. Advice can be provided from the very earliest stages of a case. The team is committed to providing the highest level of service and representation in these demanding cases.
Recent notable cases include:
- R v Eke, involving the traumatic death of a toddler
- R v Adams, gross negligence manslaughter arising from extreme consensual sexual activity
- R v Hinz, murder of a 3 year old
- R v Brown , child murder and
- R v GS who pleaded guilty to infanticide following the death of her child at birth.
Our Crime Barristers...
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3PB's Adam Feest QC (pictured here), who heads the national barristers' chambers 33-strong criminal law team, successfully prosecuted Tom Schreiber for the murder of Sir Richard Sutton and attempted murder of his partner and the mother of the defendant, Anne Schreiber. The case, which was heard in Winchester Crown Court, attracted significant media interest - including the Times and BBC - followed the son's attack on the couple at Moorhill, Sir Richard Sutton’s mansion near Gillingham...
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3PB Barristers has welcomed top Silk Kevin McCallum QC (Scot), pictured here, a former criminal defence solicitor and a Procurator Fiscal Depute in Scotland - who specialises in criminal defence work, fatal accident inquiries and inquests - to the national chambers. He will work from its Inner Temple offices in London. Appointed as a Senior Advocate Depute in November 2006; Kevin was responsible for the preparation and conduct of a significant number of intensive, large...
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3PB’s Tom Horder, led by Andrew Langdon QC, defended Shane Mays both at trial and in the Court of Appeal. Mr Mays was convicted of the murder of 15-year-old Louise Smith who went missing from her home in Havant on VE day last year. His sentence of life with a minimum term of 25 years was appealed by the Attorney-General on the grounds that it was ‘unduly lenient’. On 5 February 2021 the Court of Appeal...
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Victoria Sheppard-Jones, a specialist in financial crime and regulatory investigations, prosecutions and enforcement in the financial services and healthcare sectors, has joined national chambers 3PB Barristers from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). She has been working at the FCA on an investigation into the Anti Money Laundering and Compliance framework of a large bank. This follows two years as a complex casework lawyer at the Court of Appeal's Criminal Division. Prior to this, Victoria was...
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3PB specialist criminal law barristers Jo Martin QC and Jane Rowley (pictured) successfully defended former Dorset Police Officer charged with murder. The jury took less than 3 hours to acquit Timothy Brehmer of murder after a trial at Salisbury Crown Court lasting 12 days. The Defendant had entered a guilty plea to manslaughter at a plea and trial preparation hearing in July of this year. The Prosecution had rejected his plea and sought a trial...
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3PB property and financial remedies barrister Louise Worton and criminal law barrister Daniel Sawyer have today both been appointed Recorders in the announcement today, 7 October 2020, from the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Louise Worton (call: 2000) will be sitting on the South Eastern Circuit dealing with Family matters. Louise has also recently been appointed as a part-time judicial office holder in the First Tier Tribunal, in the South Eastern area, sitting in the Social...
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3PB Barristers have created a dedicated webpage on its website to act as a hub for the many articles, briefings and webinar and podcast recordings about lockdown laws and regulations as well as practical issues like court attendance, e-bundles, remote and hybrid hearings. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to create employment, contractual and other legal challenges which are in many ways unprecedented. The impact of the virus is being felt, and in response, 3PB have...
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Crime barrister Nicholas Cotter of 3PB appeared as junior counsel for the defence in the first criminal trial in the UK to successfully return to the courts since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020. The fifty-eight day trial at the Old Bailey involved six young defendants who faced an allegation of murder with the stabbing of a male on the Edgware Road in West London. The case helped provide a working example on the...
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3PB crime barrister Jane Rowley’s client, PC Timothy Brehmer, has entered a guilty plea to an offence of manslaughter at a hearing before Winchester Crown Court on 8th July 2020. The Court was informed that the plea to the manslaughter was not acceptable to the CPS, and the matter has been listed for a 2 week murder trial starting on 12th October 2020. The case has attracted coverage in the media including the BBC reporting...
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Joanna Martin Q.C. and Elisabeth Bussey-Jones defended in Jonathan Stasiuk murder case tried in Southampton this month. The case involved Mr Stasiuk being diagnosed with autism and that forming the basis of a diminished responsibility defence. Read BBC coverage of the case here.
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3PB’s criminal law barrister Nicholas Cotter, acting for the defence, assisted in reducing the life tariff of a son who sadly murdered his father when under the influence of butane gas. Dominic Hodgson, 37, thought his father had "turned evil" when he inflicted multiple head wounds at their shared home in Sherborne, Dorset, in May. Robert Hodgson, 72, had reluctantly let his son stay with him as he had nowhere to go, Winchester Crown Court...
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3PB’s Head of Chambers David Berkley QC is delighted to announce that criminal law barrister and child cruelty Silk, Ms Jo Martin QC, has joined 3PB as a door tenant. Jo qualified as a solicitor in 1996 before being called to the Bar in 2005 and becoming a QC last year. Prior to moving to Plymouth, Devon she worked for both the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office in London and then became...
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