Dr Andreas O’Shea represented MW at Kingston-Upon-Thames Crown Court for being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, in this case cocaine.
The defences of duress and modern slavery were run on the basis that a man who has now been shot dead forced her through an implied threat to herself and her children to sell a cutting agent to drug dealers. This was said to be required to pay off a debt said to have been created because of the seizure by the police of an AK47 which he had made her hold onto. Her Honour Judge Coello withdrew both defences from the jury, duress on the basis that there was a lack of imminence of serious injury and modern slavery on the basis that there was not a sufficient basis for considering the defendant’s activity as forced labour. Notwithstanding this devastating blow to the defence case, Dr O’Shea nonetheless secured her acquittal for being concerned with class A by running the argument to the jury that her involvement was once off and of such a preliminary nature that it could not be classified as being concerned in supply.