Ruby Selva of the Garden Court Criminal Defence Team secured not guilty verdicts by way of Judge directed acquittals in a EncroChat case.
Ruby acted for the defendant, instructed and ably assisted by Vik Lalli of Bhandal Law.
The defendant was charged with two Counts of Conspiracy to Supply Class A drugs. It was alleged that the defendant possessed and used an Encro phone to supply large amounts of Class A drugs over a period during lockdown, as part of a wider conspiracy.
The Crown’s case relied on the passwords to the Encro phone being highly personal and sensitive to the defendant, that the Encro phone appeared to travel with the defendant on keys dates in the Crown’s timeline.
Issues arose as to whether the defendant could actually be said to be the sole user of the Encro phone. Further, on probing, issues also arose as to whether the methods deployed in downloading the Encro phone were reliable.
Ruby drafted a Defence Statement to establish the weaknesses in the Crowns case and on review, as a result of its contents, the Crown offered no evidence.
