Nick is a highly-regarded and much sought-after senior leading junior who defends in serious and complex criminal cases, including serious violence, firearms, high-value fraud, and large-scale drugs conspiracies.
Criminal Defence
Overview
Nick is a highly regarded and much sought-after senior leading junior who acts in serious and complex criminal cases, including serious violence, firearms, high-value fraud, and large-scale drugs conspiracies to import/supply.
Notable Cases
R v Y (Birmingham Crown Court) 2024
Client alleged to be money laundering cash in respect of multi-million-pound cigarette smuggling conspiracy. Not Guilty.
R v C (Woolwich Crown Court) 2024
Client accused of possession of a firearm (found in a bedroom at his flat) and of large-scale Class A drugs conspiracy (cocaine found in same bedroom). Not Guilty.
R v S (Central Criminal Court) 2023
Nick was leading counsel for defendant accused of perverting the course of justice for her husband who was convicted of a double murder.
R v T Hussain (Sheffield Crown Court) 2023
Nick was leading counsel for defendant in a multi-handed Class A drugs supply conspiracy (Operation Ringtail), involving the importation and distribution over six months of 15,900kg cocaine, with a street value of £1.59 billion.
R v H (Wood Green Crown Court) 2023
Client alleged to be organiser of large-scale cocaine supply using Encrochat phone. Hung jury.
R v Polat (Southwark Crown Court) 2023
Nick was leading counsel for defendant in £1.3 million bank fraud, arranging over 42 fraudulent bank loads for clients of her finance company.
R v E (Snaresbrook Crown Court) 2022
Client accused of marital rapes. Hung jury. Prosecution offered no evidence prior to retrial.
R v C (Leicester Crown Court) 2022
Nick was leading counsel for client alleged to be part of a multi-handed conspiracy to sell parts from stolen cars worth well in excess of £4.5 million. Not Guilty.
R v SA (Southwark Crown Court) 2021
Client alleged to be involved in £3 million diamond fraud conspiracy. Trial halted for prosecution disclosure failings six weeks into the prosecution case. Not Guilty. Nick was led by Adrian Eissa KC. See BBC report here.
R v Murat (Woolwich Crown Court) 2021
Nick was for the main defendant in seven-week trial, accused of being head of conspiracies to import and transfer firearms. Acquitted of importation.
R v F (Snaresbrook Crown Court) 2020
Client accused of rape of ex-wife. Hung jury. Prosecution offered no evidence prior to re-trial.
R v JM (Wood Green Crown Court) 2020
Client acquitted of causing death by dangerous driving.
R v Jones (Nottingham Crown Court) 2020
Client accused of possession and transferring of firearms, supplying drugs and money laundering in wide-ranging, multi-handed trial.
R v KB (Central Criminal Court) 2019
Client accused of joint enterprise attempted murder when in company of co-defendant who fired shot through neck of another. Co-defendant convicted. Nick’s client found Not Guilty.
R v AK (Kingston-Upon-Thames Crown Court) 2019
Nick was leading counsel for the first defendant, said to be central to a wide-ranging fraud involving multiple defendants, involving false applications for visas. The case went to a second trial (jury discharged after ten weeks in first trial as a result of submissions made by Nick) and client was found Not Guilty after a further five-week trial.
R v MM Hussain (Snaresbrook Crown Court) 2019
Nick was leading counsel for client accused of conspiracy to cause GBH in an inter-gang feud. Hung jury.
R v Aga (Hove Crown Court) 2018
Nick was leading counsel for his client who was alleged to have acted in a ‘leading role’ in a drugs conspiracy valued between £6–9 million, and money laundering. Seven days into the trial, the prosecution accepted a plea on the basis of ‘significant role’. Client sentenced to 13 years (10 + 3 for money laundering), compared with those who had pleaded at PTPH, who each received 16 years each [starting point of 24].
R v MB (Southwark Crown Court) 2018
Nick was leading counsel for a client alleged to be a central organiser of an international fraud covering Asia, North America and Europe, worth £3.1 million. His client was acquitted at Southwark Crown Court after a ten-week trial. Not Guilty.
R v M (Isleworth Crown Court) 2018
Client charged with s.18 wounding. Listed twice for trial. Nick argued successfully for disclosure which forced the Crown to offer no evidence.
R v CH (Southwark Crown Court) 2018
61-year old client charged with male rape in 1980 when he was a soldier. Listed twice for trial. Nick argued successfully for disclosure which forced the Crown to offer no evidence. Not Guilty.
R v Yousaf (Birmingham Crown Court) 2018
Attempted murder. Three-handed stabbing in broad daylight. Covered in Birmingham Mail.
R v MJ (Nottingham Crown Court) 2018
Client acquitted of kidnap and possession of a firearm.
R v KB (Maidstone Crown Court) 2017 and 2018 (retrial)
Nick represented one of 18 accused of an armed robbery involving a mass attack on a travellers’ site in Kent. After two long trials (13 weeks and 7 weeks) in which the juries were unable to reach verdicts, the Crown offered no evidence. Nick’s client was one of only 3 out of 18 defendants to be found not guilty. Covered in Mirror.
R v JB (Leeds Crown Court) 2018 & 2017
Client alleged to be head of multiple drug conspiracies. Also charged with money-laundering. Defendant alleged police fabrication of evidence. Acquitted of all charges after three trials.
R v AK (Central Criminal Court) 2017
Defendant accused of possessing an article likely to be useful to a person committing a terrorist offence, namely an article on how to make bombs. Defendant found Not Guilty after trial.
R v LG (Central Criminal Court) 2017
Breaches of Terrorism Prevention And Investigation Measures (TPIM) Notice (formerly terrorist Control Order).
R v Ellison & others (Southwark Crown Court) 2017
Defendant accused with others of false imprisonment and sexual torture including assault by anal penetration. Defendant, victim and one other witness all had intermediaries.
R v I (Sheffield Crown Court) 2016
Defendant was one of ten accused of Violent Disorder when they protested against the far-right in Rotherham. They argued that they acted in self-defence and were all found Not Guilty by the jury. BBC coverage.
R v HO (Blackfriars Crown Court) 2016
Defendant & two others charged with attempted murder and s.18 wounding. Client accepted presence at the attack. Found Not Guilty of both charges.
R v CE (Inner London Crown Court) 2016
Defendant charged with unusual offence of engaging in sexual activity (sexual intercourse with a woman) in the presence of a child, for purpose of sexual gratification. Defendant found Not Guilty after trial.
R v RJ (Reading Crown Court) 2016
Defendant accused of multiple rapes of two girlfriends. Nick successfully argued for disclosure of telephone material which resulted in the Crown offering no evidence and client being found Not Guilty of all charges.
R v Shaibu (Central Criminal Court) 2015
Attempted murder.
R v Morley (Bristol Crown Court) 2015
Defendant charged with large-scale fraud involving second-hand, top-of-the-range car dealership, with multiple victims.
R v Baybasin (Liverpool Crown Court) 2014 [2014] 1 Cr. App. R. 19 [2014] Crim. L.R. 528
Appeal case involving jury irregularities and local practice directions arising out of large-scale drug conspiracy (see 2011 case below).
R v P (Manchester Crown Court) 2013
Nick was leading counsel for a defendant alleged to be the mastermind behind £2.5 million credit card fraud in which sophisticated software was used to by-pass banking security. Said by prosecution to be ‘unprecedented’.
R v Harrison (Manchester Crown Court) 2013
Defendant pleaded guilty to involvement in a conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Nick won a trial of issue (Newton Hearing) limiting his involvement to a lesser role, meaning a significantly reduced sentence was imposed.
R v Burke (Central Criminal Court) 2013
Defendant accused of impersonating murdered woman in order to defraud her.
R v Townsend (Central Criminal Court) 2013
Defendant charged with violent disorder arising out of a gang fight at Westfield shopping centre in East London, during which one person was murdered. Crown offered no evidence against defendant before close of prosecution case following Nick’s cross-examination of prosecution witnesses.
R v Imran Mahmood (Central Criminal Court) 2013
Preparing acts of terrorism, said to be discussing plans to target the town of Royal Wootton Bassett.
R v Khobaib Hussain (Woolwich Crown Court) 2013
Preparing acts of terrorism: travelling to Pakistan for terrorist training.
R v Farmer [2013] EWCA Crim 126
Nick represented many students arrested during the 2010 student fees protests. This was one of only two trials when his client was convicted. In this case, the conviction was overturned on appeal.
R v Baybasin (Liverpool Crown Court) 2011
Nick was leading counsel for the main defendant in one of Britain’s biggest ever drugs importation cases, which involved 40 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of £4 billion. Mirror coverage.
R v BX (Central Criminal Court)
Breaching a terrorist control order.
R v Joe Glenton (Court of Appeal) [2010] EWCA Crim 930
In 2010, Nick represented soldier charged with desertion for refusing to do a second tour of duty in Afghanistan. Following substantial written submissions challenging the legality of the war the charge was dropped to being Absent Without Leave (AWOL). Nick features prominently in Joe’s book Soldier Box. Covered in Telegraph.
Iraq v Danny Fitzsimons [2009]
In August 2009, Nick went to Baghdad, Iraq for a week in extremely hazardous conditions in an attempt to get his client Danny Fitzsimons brought back to the UK. Fitzsimons, a British security worker, was facing the death penalty for the murder of two co-security workers. Whilst Nick was sitting in his hotel lobby in Baghdad, it was hit by bomb blasts that killed over 100 people across the city. Covered by Independent.
R v Saleem and others (Kingston Crown Court)
Defendants charged with incitement to commit terrorism (murder) abroad and incitement to raise funds for terrorism.
R v S (F) and A(S) (Central Criminal Court) [2009] 1 Cr. App. R. 18
Dealt with the privilege against self-incrimination in the context of sections 49 and 53 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The trial involved a conspiracy to breach a terrorist control order and a refusal to hand over an encrypted computer file.
R v Tirnaveanu [2007] 2 Cr. App. R. 23 (Canterbury Crown Court)
Nick was leading counsel in a trial and re-trial that lasted over five months. It dealt with allegations of fraud, forgery, deception and immigration offences. In the course of the proceedings, Nick successfully submitted that the trial judge should withdraw from the case on the basis of apparent bias against his client.
