Furnival Chambers

Specialist practice areas: serious crime, criminal/civil fraud, serious sexual offences. Emma Smith has an exclusively prosecution practice which, whilst covering the full spectrum of criminal offences, focuses on two very distinct fields: serious sexual offences and fraud. Emma is a Grade 3 prosecutor. Sexual offences: Emma is a rape specialist for CPS London and CPS Kent. Emma regularly prosecutes cases of rape and serious sexual assaults, with a particular specialism in cases involving children and vulnerable adults as victims. Emma has a particular interest in the medical aspect of such cases. She also prosecutes in pornography and child cruelty cases. Recent cases include: R v A, C & A: leading junior for the Crown in this six-week trial. First and second defendants represented by Queen’s Counsel and junior. Defendants charged with the rape and serious sexual assault of six of their young female relatives, the allegations dating from the mid-1980s to the present day. R v M: historic sex case dating back to the early 1970s. The 73-year-old defendant was charged with the rape and indecent assault of three young girls of his extended family. R v S: prosecution of father for the rape and serious sexual assault of his eight-year-old daughter during their weekend access visits. R v A: the defendant was charged with the rape and GBH of a female friend. Defendant represented by Queen’s Counsel and junior. R v K, B & K: prosecution of three defendants for the kidnap and rape of an escort, mistakenly believed to be a witness in an impending criminal prosecution. R v G: prosecution of an amateur football coach who had over a period of four years sexually assaulted eight schoolboys he was coaching. The defendant had video-recorded those sexual assaults. Defendant also charged with the possession and distribution of over 60,000 indecent images of children. R v S: prosecuted a teacher charged with the sexual assault over 15 years of three schoolgirls to whom he was giving after-hours private tuition. R v N & A: prosecution of two teenage defendants for the vaginal, oral and anal rape of a 15-year-old schoolgirl. Fraud, white-collar crime and confiscation: Emma has acted as a leading junior in serious fraud offences. She has prosecuted alone cases where the defendant has the benefit of two counsel and /or Queen’s Counsel. She has been instructed by the CPS and by various government departments. She has considerable experience of prosecuting insolvency-related crime, disqualified directors’ offences and other economic crime. She is fully conversant with asset forfeiture and confiscation proceedings. Cases include: R v G and I: defendants charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, the case concerning their fraudulent use of credit cards to refurbish and stock a designer clothing shop in East London. Operation Mistlethrush: instructed as leading junior for the Crown in a large and sophisticated banking fraud in which the defendant stole over £1m by assuming the identities of numerous unwitting third parties. R v B: fraudulent trading prosecution – B was a director of a construction company siphoning away significant company funds whilst creditors went unpaid. R v G: prosecution of an accountant for the non-declaration on his income tax returns of interest earned on funds held in Jersey. R v I: three-week prosecution of an accountant for fraud on his employer, an owner of various care homes in East London. Other serious crime: Emma is frequently instructed by the CPS to prosecute cases of causing death by dangerous driving and/or careless driving. Emma has also prosecuted in large-scale drugs and firearms trials. She is fully conversant with all matters relating to disclosure, PII and RIPA. Other: Emma has been instructed by the RSPCA in animal welfare cases and by local authorities in environmental protection matters. Emma has lectured on the sentencing provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Called 1994.