Vincent Scully

Vincent has been a member of Chambers since 2018, and he accepts instructions in all areas of Chambers’ practice, including crime, inquests and inquiries, and public law. Before coming to the bar, Vincent worked for three years in the Law Commission and at the Attorney General’s Office. This gave him valuable experience in a number of specialist areas, including firearms law, contempt of court, and sentencing.

Vincent has a particular expertise and interest in financial crime, having been instructed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in his first year in practice in the prosecution of executives at Tesco for fraud and false accounting (R v Rogberg, Bush & Scouler). He now regularly acts for the Financial Conduct Authority, SFO and private clients in serious and complex fraud cases.

Crime

Vincent regularly appears in the Crown Court, where he both prosecutes and defends. His recent experience as sole counsel includes a two-week prosecution of an immigration advisor for regulatory offences, prosecutions of armed gang robberies, large-scale organised drugs supply, serious violence, and defence of serious driving and dangerous dogs matters. Vincent has extensive experience of serious criminal trials, having been instructed by the CPS as second junior in several high profile and complex cases including R v Ben Lacomba, a missing-body murder, and R v PC Ben Monk & PC Bettley-Smith, the trial of police officers for the murder of premiership footballer Dalian Atkinson. He has also been instructed as first junior in other complex cases, including a series of more than 40 household burglaries in the West Midlands with a total value exceeding £1 million. He is currently instructed as second junior to prosecute a nine-handed historic child sex offences case concerning a special school.

Vincent has particular expertise in complex sentencing matters having worked to codify sentencing law at the Law Commission; these proposals have recently been enacted in the Sentencing Act 2020. Subsequently he spent time advising the Attorney and Solicitor General on whether high-profile sentences referred by members of the public were unduly lenient, giving him extensive experience in the full range of complex sentencing matters.

Vincent is a Level 3 prosecutor for the CPS on the General Crime panel and the Serious Crime specialist panel.

 Private Prosecution

Vincent regularly appears in the Crown Court, where he both prosecutes and defends. His recent experience as sole counsel includes a two-week prosecution of an immigration advisor for regulatory offences, prosecutions of armed gang robberies, large-scale organised drugs supply, serious violence, and defence of serious driving and dangerous dogs matters. Vincent has extensive experience of serious criminal trials, having been instructed by the CPS as second junior in several high profile and complex cases including R v Ben Lacomba, a missing-body murder, and R v PC Ben Monk & PC Bettley-Smith, the trial of police officers for the murder of premiership footballer Dalian Atkinson. He has also been instructed as first junior in other complex cases, including a series of more than 40 household burglaries in the West Midlands with a total value exceeding £1 million. He is currently instructed as second junior to prosecute a nine-handed historic child sex offences case concerning a special school.

Vincent has particular expertise in complex sentencing matters having worked to codify sentencing law at the Law Commission; these proposals have recently been enacted in the Sentencing Act 2020. Subsequently he spent time advising the Attorney and Solicitor General on whether high-profile sentences referred by members of the public were unduly lenient, giving him extensive experience in the full range of complex sentencing matters.

Vincent is a Level 3 prosecutor for the CPS on the General Crime panel and the Serious Crime specialist panel.

 Private Prosecution

Vincent regularly prosecutes for organisations other than the CPS, including local authorities and the Immigration Services Commissioner. He has also acted in private prosecutions by individuals, including the first known prosecution brought by a reservist against their employer for breach of the Reserve Forces (Safeguard of Employment) Act 1985. Vincent recently advised in a proposed fraud and regulatory prosecution against a bank.

 Financial Crime

Vincent is a member of the CPS Fraud specialist panel at Level 3, and the SFO’s prosecution panel at Level C.

Vincent has previously been instructed as junior counsel by the Financial Conduct Authority in a without-notice restraint order application under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and has experience in other confiscation matters on behalf of both defendants and prosecuting agencies. He has appeared and advised in Criminal Justice Act 1988 confiscation cases in the High Court and in the County Courts as well as in more typical POCA 2002 matters in the Crown Court.

The Financial Conduct Authority currently instructs Vincent in the regulatory case against Barclays Bank concerning its capital raisings in 2008.

Vincent is also regularly instructed in fraud matters in the Crown Court, with recent cases ranging from credit card frauds committed by employees to the forgery of COVID-19 test certificates.

In pupillage, Vincent assisted in advising a listed company on the adequacy of its internal procedures for the purposes of the due diligence defence to the offence of a company failing to prevent bribery under section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010. He is now drafting a chapter for a forthcoming book on fraud investigations.

 Proceeds of Crime

Vincent is a member of the CPS specialist proceeds of crime panel at Level 3 and the SFO proceeds of crime and international assistance panel at :evel C. He advises those organisations and defendants on legally challenging proceeds of crime cases, and has appeared in the High Court, County Court and Crown Court on POCA 2002 and CJA 1988 confiscation matters. He has recently acted in restraint order proceedings for the Financial Conduct Authority in a multi-million pound investment fraud, and for the CPS to resist an application to discharge a restraint order brought in connection with insolvency proceedings.

Vincent has contributed a chapter to the forthcoming 6th edition of Millington and Sutherland Williams on the Proceeds of Crime on the enforcement of restraint and receivership orders through contempt proceedings.

 Contempt of Court

In his previous work at the Attorney General’s Office, Vincent advised the Law Officers on whether to bring committal proceedings in cases across all types of contempt, and worked with the police and other authorities to manage investigations into potential contempts.

He has also contributed a chapter on contempt in the context of POCA restraint and receivership orders to the forthcoming 6th edition of OUP’s Millington and Sutherland Williams on the Proceeds of Crime.

 Inquests and Inquiries

At the Attorney General’s Office Vincent advised the Law Officers on the exercise of their powers to grant permission to apply for fresh inquests under section 12 of the Coroners Act 1988. From examining applications to assess whether previous inquests were flawed in that capacity, Vincent has developed a good working knowledge of inquest law, and is keen to develop his practice in this area.

 Public Law

Vincent has wide experience of a range of public law matters from his time at the Attorney General’s Office, particularly with issues relating to charities and the criminal justice system in the broadest sense. He is now a member of the Government Legal Department’s “junior junior” scheme and has appeared for the Home Office in immigration matters dealing with human rights arguments. He has been instructed by the GLD to advise on disclosure by a government department into criminal proceedings, and by the FCDO to advise on the imposition of sanctions against individuals and organisations for human rights abuses and other breaches of international law, including in Ukraine.

Vincent accepts instructions in the full range of prison law matters – as a former Independent Monitoring Board member at HMP Belmarsh, he is particularly experienced in this area.

 Sanctions

Vincent is regularly instructed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (“FCDO”) to advise on the imposition of sanctions under the UK’s autonomous Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 regimes. He advises on the evidential sufficiency and human rights compatibility of the proposed designations, and assists officials with improving their justifications for imposing sanctions on particular individuals or entities. He accepts instructions in all areas of sanctions litigation.

MA, Law, Fitzwilliam College Cambridge (first class)