New Park Court Chambers

Crime

Jessica is a highly regarded junior specialising in criminal law. She is a tenacious advocate, with experience far beyond her call across a broad spectrum of prosecution and defence work.

She is experienced in being led in the most serious cases including murder, high value fraud and financial crime and sexual offences. As a junior alone she is often instructed in cases including conspiracy to supply class A drugs, perverting the course of justice, kidnap and sexual offences.

Jessica is hard working and meticulous in her preparation of cases. She has an impressive ability to handle vast quantities of evidence and unused material and is a sought-after junior in complex multi-handed cases, with significant experience on disclosure issues.

She is recognised for her skill and compassion when working with vulnerable clients. She is approachable and quickly and easily builds a rapport.

Undaunted by complex legal argument, Jessica is a robust and fearless court advocate. She is known for her attention to detail and often advises on complex issues.

Jessica is appointed to the Crown Prosecution Service advocate panel at Grade 3, she is also appointed to the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences panel at Grade 3 and the Serious Crime panel at Grade 2.

Criminal Defence

• Operation Lytton - Multi-handed Rochdale grooming case. Led junior, secured acquittals on all rape counts.
• R v IR - Junior alone. Cross-examination of three child witnesses under 12 using s.28 pre-recorded cross-examination. Defendant acquitted of the most serious charge of sexual assault of a child under 13.
• R v HW - Conspiracy to supply cannabis. Junior alone. Jessica persuaded the court to impose a suspended sentence for an offence of conspiracy to supply cannabis which took place over an 18 month period, with the total value of cannabis seized almost £25,000.
• R v NG - Conspiracy to supply Class A (over 5kg). Led junior at trial. Jessica dealt with the sentencing hearing alone and was able to persuade the Judge to reduce the sentence from the 10 years’ imprisonment that had been contended for by the prosecution, to five years and 6 months imprisonment.
• R v CB - Murder. Led junior. Baildon man Charlie Booth jailed for life after murdering Lauren Howe
• R v LH - Conspiracy to supply Class A. Junior alone. The case involved over 9kg of import strength cocaine. Jessica represented a young female defendant. Following discussions with prosecution counsel, the defendant pleaded guilty on a limited basis of plea which was accepted by the prosecution. At sentence, Jessica presented compelling evidence in mitigation that allowed the Judge to significantly reduce the sentence imposed.

Criminal Prosecution

• Operation Opaque - Fraud. Led junior counsel. Prosecution of seventeen defendants for offences of cheating the public revenue and money laundering offences. The total value of the fraud was over £1.1m. The case involved detailed explanation as to the way the self-assessment system worked. Jessica worked closely with HMRC to distill the evidence into clear and concise schedules.
• Operation Lackway - Fraud – led junior for the Crown instructed by the Complex Case Unit in a series of fraud trials. The operation involved the use of covert recordings. All defendants were convicted.
• R v JC & BJ - Junior alone. Prosecution of a series of armed robberies of convenience stores. The presentation of the case involved cell-site analysis, tagging data from electronically monitored curfew tags, expert voice recognition evidence and CCTV. Jessica successfully demonstrated that the Defendants were together at the time of the commission of the offences and both Defendants were convicted.