Edward Duncan Smith

Cases

Asset Forfeiture & Confiscation

LBC v UA:  Multi-handed POCA confiscation proceedings in which the prosecuting Borough Council alleged over £800,000 of criminal benefit by the client.  A settlement was ultimately negotiated in the sum of just £150,000.

PBC v MM:  Multi-handed POCA confiscation proceedings involving complex legal arguments about the equitable interest in a property.

Criminal Defence

R v AL: Led by Mozammel Hossain.  A multi-handed case of murder and associated charges where the victim was hacked to death with machetes.  Secured a suspended sentence for AL for perverting the course of justice by lying to police as to the involvement of his sons in the killing. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk

R v YE-A: Led by Terence Woods.  Acquittal for client accused of being involved in the operation of a large-scale counterfeit documents “factory” and associated money laundering. www.dailymail.co.uk/news

R v KS: Led by Mozammel Hossain.  Part of Police Operation Windless.  A multi-handed conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in Hampshire during the course of which a man was fatally stabbed. www.dailyecho.co.uk/news

R v DM: An appeal to the Court of Appeal against a sentence imposed on a man attempting to smuggle his brother to the UK from the infamous Calais “Jungle” immigrant camp.  Successfully argued that insufficient account was taken of the emotional pressure DM faced to extricate his sibling from the dangers of the camp.  Reported at [2016] EWCA Crim 2272

R v MC: Acquittal of a well-known figure in the UK rap music industry on a charge of Voyeurism where he filmed himself and his partner having sex, allegedly without her having any knowledge of the camera.

R v TN: Allegations of Supplying Class A drugs after the defendants were found in a car with drug wraps and apparently “dirty” phones.  The Crown offered no evidence at a retrial after cross-examination in the first trial exposed serious flaws in the police investigation, including the failure of the drugs “expert” to correctly distinguish between sent and received text messages found on the phones.

R v DG: Arson with Intent to Endanger Life, alleged to have occurred during the escalation of a neighbour dispute whereby DG pushed flaming fabric through the letterbox.  DG was featured on Channel 5’s “Nightmare Neighbours From Hell” television series. www.gazette-news.co.uk/news

R v DS: Acquittal in a case of Burglary during which a co-defendant turned queen’s evidence and attempted to blame the orchestration of the plan on DS.

R v JA: Acquittal in a case of attempted Robbery alleged to have been part of a revenge attack for the complainant’s role in “grassing up” JA for his involvement in the 2011 London riots.