Claire Brocklebank

Defence

R v Pedler – defended 4-week trial involving conspiracy to supply 100kg of Class A drugs. Encro-chat and cell site expert evidence. Defendant acquitted.

R v Reece, McCreery and McCreery – junior defence counsel in murder trial, first on the indictment

R v Aldred – aggravated burglary trial

R v Sawyer  – defended. 7-day trial. Robbery and Section 18 in prison involving a £12k watch and the victim’s face being cut with an improvised weapon. Convicted but received a 5-year sentence.

R v Wood – defended a trial in absence. Affray and possession of an axe. Defendant had been identified by an eye-witness at a VIPER. Defendant was acquitted.

R v Das – fraud trial listed for 8 days, defendant was employed by a school and was accused of stealing the dinner money by carrying out false accounting to cover his thefts. Cross-examined prosecution accountant. Combed through thousands of pages of printed material to find evidence that the fraud also occurred when the defendant was off work. Successful half time submission.

R v Johnson – million pound fraud in which the defendant had produced a false will and various false documents in order to try and inherit a neighbour’s farm

R v Byfield – defended a 5-day section 18 trial. Defendant was acquitted of section 18, acquitted of possession of an offensive weapon and convicted of section 20.

R v Caragiouiu – 5 day stalking trial. Defendant acquitted.

R v Wood – defended a trial in absence. Affray and possession of an axe. Defendant had been identified by an eye-witness at a VIPER. Defendant was acquitted.

R v White – defendant charged with aggravated burglary, negotiated a plea to simple burglary and possession of a bladed article. The defendant received a suspended sentence.

R v Hussain – only counsel to make a half-time submission in a case of Affray. The points raised resulted in acquittals for all three defendants.

R v Holmes – defendant with significant mental health issues. Arson with intent trial, convicted on arson reckless but acquitted of arson with intent

R v Pilkington – applying corrosive substance with intent. Defendant accused of throwing bleach at his neighbour. Acquitted after trial.

R v Roper – blackmail, demands made for £300,000

Prosecution

R v Kareem, Kareem, Lewis, Ojo, Osunde, Oluwa – Worker in a care home and her son defrauded an elderly resident of £28,500 and laundered the money through the bank accounts of various defendants.

R v Bullock – kidnap and robbery of a 1- year old boy with issues of joint enterprise. Prosecuted trial. Convicted.

R v Barber – VAT fraud valued at £140,000 involving a sham business and falsified invoices. Drafted a response to basis of plea. Prosecuted a trial of issue in which the court found in favour of the prosecution. Instructed to prosecute the subsequent confiscation proceedings. 

R v Cranston – affray and assault. Defence served a ‘defence statement’ which purported to argue that there was no case to answer. Drafted and served a response dealing with the legal matters raised. At the next hearing the defendant pleaded guilty.

R v Finch and Naylor – two defendants defrauded their elderly neighbour of £9,000 from her bank account and stole her jewellery. The complainant had passed away.

R v Bashir, Ejaz, Ahmed and Younus – four youths who committed an aggravated burglary

R v Shah and Khan – false imprisonment, ABH, witness intimidation, perverting the course of justice, robbery.

R v Cisse – finding of fact on a Section 18 assault and witness intimidation