Jonathan Sandiford

Jonathan Sandiford KC has maintained his reputation as a top-class advocate throughout his career. He has over 25 years’ experience in complex and sensitive cases including fraud and Trading Standards prosecutions, murder, terrorism, hate crimes (racial, religious and sexual orientation) and large scale drug dealing. His expertise and attention to detail have made him a firm favourite with prosecution agencies specialising in both crime & regulatory areas and, whilst those relationships continue to go from strength to strength Jonathan is also regularly instructed to defend by leading solicitors firms.

Jonathan was sworn in as Queen’s Counsel in March 2020, prior to taking silk Jonathan regularly undertook work that might have usually been instructed to a QC, this was as a direct result of the confidence and trust in his abilities shown by the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorist Divisions as well as the eCrime Team of the National Trading Standards Board.

Between March 2014 and September 2016 he was retained by the Crown Prosecution Service to advise the IPCC in respect of the investigation into alleged misconduct by South Yorkshire Police and others in the aftermath of the Hillsborough Stadium disaster.

In 2015 he was instructed as Junior Counsel to prosecute youngest ever defendant charged and convicted of terrorism offences in the UK for inciting another to launch a murderous attack on the ANZAC Day Parade in Melbourne, Australia.

He has prosecuted a number of cases involving the stirring up of racial, religious and other forms of hatred via the internet including the leading case of Sheppard and Whittle [2010] 1 Cr.App.R 26 in the Crown Court and later the Court of Appeal.

In 2016 – 2017 Jonathan was instructed to prosecute two defendants first case in the United Kingdom involving the importation and supply via the Dark Web of the highly concentrated and dangerous opioid, Fentanyl.

In 2017 Jonathan successfully prosecuted a defendant who was stopped at Manchester Airport as he tried to smuggle a viable improvised explosive device (IED) onto a Ryanair aeroplane at Manchester Airport with the intention of detonating it in flight. In 2009 Jonathan was one of the youngest persons to be appointed to sit as a Recorder (part time judge) on the North Eastern Circuit.