Will is a well regarded barrister with extensive experience defending and prosecuting serious crime throughout the south-east.
Defending, he is a tenacious advocate with a proven track record. He is also a Level 4 prosecutor accustomed to managing large complex cases with multiple defendants.
Background and Expertise
Will’s recent instructions include murder, manslaughter and other serious violence; rape and other sexual offences; child abuse; kidnappings; large-scale drug cases; firearms; fraud; deception; regulatory offences; and proceeds of crime proceedings.
He has an approachable and personable style, which enables him to establish rapport with both professional and lay clients.
Will is a pupil supervisor and an advocacy trainer.
Notable Cases
R v B and others, 2019
Successful prosecution of multi-handed “county lines” drugs operation. The head of the serious crime group was based in London; he built up a network of vulnerable young people who were groomed and subsequently recruited to deliver drugs and move money between London and Hertfordshire. The case involved detailed analysis of call data and cell site patterns as well as establishing phone number attribution in order to show how the operation worked and who was “at the top of the tree”.
St. Albans Crown Court
News report here
R v A, 2018
Lead counsel in the successful defence of a man charged in a multi-handed conspiracy to defraud trial. The case related to a sophisticated £1.2m “cash for crash” scheme. The case involved approximately 20,000 pages of evidence. The defence that was advanced necessitated an attack on the credibility of solicitors and a doctor contending that they were not prosecution witnesses of truth but parties to the conspiracy. The jury accepted that the defendant had been the subject of identity theft.
R v U and others, 2015
Prosecuted a case involving multiple ATM ramraids in the east of England, carried out by a well organised gang who had been linked to the offences by cell site evidence, bugging and covert surveillance.
R v SA, 2013
Successfully prosecuted a multi-million-pound fraud and money laundering trial involving internet ‘phishing’ frauds in the UK, and the expatriation of the proceeds of crime through an export company based in Nigeria.
R v G, 2019
The prosecution of a serial arsonist who set fire to several properties in rural Bedfordshire causing in excess of £1 million worth of damage and putting numerous lives at risk. The defendant received a life sentence following his conviction at trial.
Luton Crown Court
News report here
R v D and another, 2019
Lead counsel in the defence of a man who was accused of robbing the first defendant during which the first defendant murdered the second defendant’s companion. The two defendants were tried together with each running a “cutthroat” defence against the other.
St. Albans Crown Court
News report here
R v G, 2018
Successful acquittal of the alleged getaway driver in an alleged armed robbery in which the defendants had travelled down from London to Gravesend in the early hours of the morning, forced their way into a house and sought to rob the complainants at gunpoint.
R v S, 2014
Defended the former IT manager of a large international wine importer, who hacked into his ex-employer’s computer systems and caused widespread damage and destruction of data.
R v U and others, 2012
Successfully prosecuted a 12-handed sham marriage trial, on behalf of the UK Borders Agency. The case involved a series of conspiracies to secure unlawful entry into the UK by Bangladeshi nationals who then sought to legitimise their presence in the UK by entering into sham marriages with EU nationals.
R v B, 2024
Multi-handed conspiracy to murder trial to be heard later this year at the Central Criminal Court. The case involves an alleged plan to execute a rival gang member. The gun was discharged injuring but failing to kill the intended target. The victim has refused to co-operate with the police investigation and so the case is being pursued on CCTV, cell site and ANPR analysis.
R v D & D, 2023
Prosecution of a manslaughter case in which the only two people who were able to say what actually happened would have been the deceased and the first defendant. Presentation of the case relied on CCTV of events prior to and post the incident, cell site evidence and the interpretation of post mortem pathology.
The first defendant was convicted of manslaughter.
The second defendant was the first defendant’s brother who was convicted of assisting his brother after the event and for attempting to pervert the course of justice by destroying evidence.
R v K, 2023
Defence trial counsel for a man charged with the kidnap and rape of a child. The case involved a number of days of legal argument involving the admissibility of psychiatric and medical evidence as well as hearsay and non-defendant bad character evidence.
R v B, 2021
Murder acquittal for 15 year old boy. The defendant was the younger of two brothers alleged to have mounted a planned attack on the ex-boyfriend of their mother, on the doorstep of a home he was about to enter.
R v DS, 2021
Successful prosecution of multi-handed conspiracy to murder trial at the Old Bailey. Victim shot through the letter box of his home. 4 men prosecuted and convicted following extensive cell site, mobile phone and ANPR analysis. The case also involved expert interpretation of ballistic, DNA and GSR evidence.
R v M, 2019
Prosecution of a 15 year old boy for attempted murder in which the victim (also a 15 year boy) was stabbed multiple times during a dispute in north London. The case involved the careful handling of vulnerable child witnesses. The defendant was convicted of s.18 GBH in the alternative. The defence appealed the conviction, leave was granted but, following argument from both sides, the defendant’s appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal.
R v K and others, 2015
Secured murder acquittal in joint enterprise murder trial at the Old Bailey. Case involved a gang who conspired to rob a wealthy businessman who was murdered by a co-defendant during the robbery.
R v S and others, 2013
Successfully defended the alleged getaway driver in a trial for conspiracy to murder.
R v P, 2010
Murder within the Polish community in Stevenage, in which the victim was beaten to death by two known associates.
R v J, 2010
Defended in what the prosecution asserted was a gunpoint execution following a failed robbery and drugs deal.
R v P, 2022
Successful prosecution of a serial rapist who targeted and solicited prostitutes whom he suspected were in the UK unlawfully. The defendant pretended to be a police officer, brandished a gun and threatened the women with deportation before raping and robbing them. The case involved liaison and co-operation with a number of overseas authorities as well as video linked testimony from South America.
R v A, 2018
Defence of a former taxi driver prosecuted for multiple historic rapes on vulnerable women picked up in his taxi late at night. Defendant was identified by his DNA 10 years after the events. The defendant contested the allegations alleging consent.
R v H, 2016
Prosecuted a father on trial for the rape and sexual abuse of his young children. The defendant videoed or photographed the offences taking place, but his identity could not be ascertained from the images. The recordings were stored online and distributed. The victims were too young to give evidence.
R v J, 2018
Murder acquittal in youth gang violence which resulted in a fatal stabbing.
R v W, 2017
Leading junior in the defence of the first defendant in a 14-handed gang violence trial, involving the discharge of a machine gun and other firearms in central Bedford.
R v M, 2009
Defended in three-month trial for conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to cause GBH, involving an alleged gang in south London who indiscriminately robbed and seriously assaulted 56 people over a five-month period.
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Achievements
- SEC
- CBA
- Herts & Beds Bar Mess (mess junior)
- CPS Panel (Grade 4)
- CPS Rape Panel (Grade 4)
- BVC, College of Law London
- CPE, College of Law York
- BA Philosophy, University of Wales
- Bryanston School