James is a criminal law specialist, undertaking both defence and prosecution work. He has experience in a wide variety of areas of the criminal law, including serious violence, sexual offences, high-value thefts and robberies and drugs. He also has particular experience in confiscation and asset forfeiture and in road traffic offences.

Notable Cases

Court of Appeal:

R -v- Chambers [2009] EWCA Crim 2742: An appeal, acting without a leader, against conviction and sentence. The appellant had been convicted of conspiring to supply the largest quantities of amphetamine and counterfeit Ecstasy ever seized in the UK and had received a sentence of 18 years' imprisonment. Legal argument dwelt on topics including the state of mind required in proving conspiracies where the substantive offence cannot be committed, and the nature of conspiracies in which one 'conspirator' must have mislead another.

R -v- Grimes   [2009] EWCA Crim 2074: Appeal against sentence on the ground of the correct allocation of time spent on remand for a man convicted of drug offences.

R -v- Shirley [2009] EWCA Crim 797: Appeal against sentence in which a sentence of 34 months' imprisonment was replaced by a community order.

R -v- Burnett [2008] EWCA Crim 2949: Responding , as a led junior, to an appeal against conviction made on the basis that the discovery, months after the trial, that two crucial police witnesses had been suspended from service for gross corruption rendered the convictions for a series of armed robberies unsafe.

R -v- Riley [2008] EWCA Crim 3231: Responding to an appeal against sentence made by a Q.C. in relation to a man who stabbed someone to death in an argument over drugs.

R -v- Shepherd [2008] EWCA Crim 2202: Appeal against sentence, in relation to an armed robbery, which concerned the application of the Sentencing Guidelines Council guideline on robbery to cases at the upper end of seriousness.

R-v-Hassan [2007] EWCA Crim 3387: Successful appeal against sentence for a prolific pickpocket who committed two further thefts in breach of a suspended sentence for similar offences.

R-v-Nwangoro [2006] EWCA Crim 3061: Acted as junior counsel for the respondent in an appeal relating to a confiscation order in the sum of £240,000, which required detailed arguments on the 9 grounds of appeal, including breach of legitimate expectation, the calculation of benefit and realisable assets, the interpretation of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the court’s jurisdiction and the approach to be taken when the correct procedure in the Crown Court had not been followed.

Crown Court:

R -v- B [2010]: Impending trial concerning an allegation of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol.

R -v- Fagan [2009]: Acting for a defendant accused of a violent gunpoint robbery which led to the alleged victim suffering two broken legs. The case against the defendant was thrown out following a full days legal argument at the start of the trial.

R -v- Wallace [2009]: Instructed for the prosecution for a trial involving allegations of possession of an imitation firearm with intent and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

R -v- Hoskins (2009): Prosecuting a man who was found in possession of three firearms, two of which were loaded, and possession of £15,000 worth of heroin and crack with intent to supply. The defendant was represented at trial by a Q.C.

R-v-Sweeny (2009): Trial concerning allegations of a violent robbery as a result of which the complainant suffered multiple fractures to his face.

R-v-Chambers and others (2008): Led junior defending a man accused of conspiring to supply the largest amount of amphetamine (500kg) and counterfeit Ecstasy tablets (400,000) ever seized in the UK. 

R-v-Shepherd (2008): Prosecuting a sophisticated armed robbery of a supermarket, and two attempts to pervert the course of justice. The Defendant pleaded on the day of trial and received an IPP with minimum tariff of 6 years.

R-v-Woods (2008): A trial of a man accused of committing a violent sexual assault on his wife.

R-v-Subashi (2007): Defending 13 allegations against one of a safe-cracking gang who targeted a number of high street restaurant chains, using extremely sophisticated techniques to disable the alarms and plasma cutters to break open the safes.

R-v-Camplin (2006): A high-value burglary of a country mansion where goods worth £300,000 were stolen.

R-v-Barnes (2006): Organised theft of a lorry-load of plasma TVs.

Other cases

R -v- T and L (2009): Court martial in germany in which two men were accused of outraging public decency and assault repectively

R -v- S (2009): Parole hearing for a lifer who had murdered a 72 year old woman when 15 years old

A -v- A (2008): Civil case in the county court regarding a contested application for an injunction between two millionaires.