Emma accepts instructions from defence solicitors and prosecuting authorities in all areas of criminal law, as well as undertaking work in a range of quasi-criminal fields.
As well as being a Grade 2 Advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service, Emma is on the Attorney-General’s C List of Counsel (Criminal), and the SFO's C List of Counsel.
In the Crown Court Emma has experience of cases involving robbery, dangerous driving, sexual assault and child pornography, fraud, violence, public disorder, weapons and drugs. Emma also practises in the Magistrates’ and Youth courts. She is familiar with restraint and confiscation proceedings and cash forfeiture.
In 2009 Emma was instructed by the Treasury Solicitor as part of a team of counsel representing the Government in relation to claims brought by former detainees of Guantanamo Bay.
Since early 2010 Emma has been instructed as junior counsel to the Al-Sweady public inquiry, which is looking into allegations of unlawful killing and mistreatment of individuals detained by the British Army in Iraq in 2004.
Examples of recent trial work, acting alone
R v W, August 2011
Emma represented a defendant charged with involvement in the violent disorder that followed the Chelsea v Cardiff football match in February 2010. The case against the defendant was based on identifications made by police officers from CCTV footage.
R v B, May 2011
Defending in a case concerning allegations of over £75,000 of benefit fraud. At trial Emma cross examined the prosecution financial analyst who gave evidence about the operation of the bank accounts of the defendant and her husband.
R v A, August 2009:
Prosecution counsel in a trial involving the importation of steroids through Heathrow Airport in which the defendant claimed he did not know that what he was doing was illegal; trial included cross examination of a defence expert who gave evidence in relation to the availability of steroids within the UK.
R v N, July 2009:
Successfully represented a defendant charged with Affray where the Prosecution case consisted entirely of CCTV footage of the defendant using a nunchuku during a street fight.
R v A, May 2009:
Emma successfully defended in a week-long s18 wounding trial; the defendant, a 16 year old of good character, had stabbed the complainant in the leg with a knife he brought from home. Trial involved detailed cross examination of the complainant and four other civilian witnesses.
Led work has included
R v Connolly and others 2009-2010:
Emma was instructed by the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office as junior prosecution counsel, led by Sir Derek Spencer QC, in a thirteen-handed Tax Credit fraud. The fraud involved the making of applications for tax credits using the details of fictitious and allegedly disabled children, as well as hijacked claimant identities.
R v Sanderson, 2009:
Junior counsel (led by Allison Clare) instructed by the SFO in a mortgage fraud. The defendant was extradited from Portugal having absconded prior to charge. Emma played a major role in the disclosure exercise throughout the proceedings, which ended with the defendant entering guilty pleas shortly before trial.
R v Ali and others and R v Girma and others, 2007-8:
Emma was instructed by the Counter Terrorism Division of the CPS as second junior counsel for the prosecution, led by Max Hill QC, in a series of trials arising from the attempted London bombings of 21 July 2005. In total ten defendants were convicted between October 2007 and June 2008 of assisting an offender and failing to disclose information about the bombers. As a result of her involvement in this case Emma is fully familiar with ‘EPE’ (electronic presentation of evidence), and mobile telephone cell site evidence.
R v Rastogi and others, 2006-7:
Between November 2006 and March 2007 Emma was seconded to the Serious Fraud Office to assist with a lengthy disclosure exercise in a trans-Atlantic multi-million pound fraud, later tried at the Crown Court at Southwark.
Emma’s experience also extends to cases involving sentencing under the ‘dangerousness’ provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (as amended by the CJIA 2008), and hospital and restriction orders under the Mental Health Act 1983. She has represented individuals made subject to Sexual Offences Prevention Orders, and in civil applications in the Magistrates’ Court for Risk of Sexual Harm Orders.
Emma is adept at dealing with young and vulnerable defendants and witnesses. As well as her experience in practice, in 2007 Emma was asked to assist with the Home Office-administered legal assessment programme for intermediaries, whose role is to assist vulnerable witnesses to give best evidence in court proceedings through direct help in understanding questions and communicating answers. She thereafter represented a vulnerable defendant on whose behalf she successfully applied for the assistance of an intermediary for trial, prior to the enactment of legislation providing for intermediaries to assist defendants.
Publications and Seminars
As part of Red Lion Court’s Autumn-Winter 2011 seminar series, Emma is delivering a seminar aimed at providing a straightforward guide to defence solicitors on restraint orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
In 2008 Emma contributed to a chapter for the National Policing Improvement Agency journal dealing with urgent interviewing of terrorist suspects pursuant to the Terrorism Act 2000 and PACE Code H, and presented a seminar on this topic directly to counter terrorism officers.
Emma assisted the Fraud Advisory Panel in preparing its 2006 report ‘Bringing to Book: Tackling the Crisis in the Investigation and Prosecution of Serious Fraud’. Emma’s research focused particularly on comparative regimes of disclosure and ‘plea-bargaining’ in large cases.
