Criminal Appeals Bulletin - Issue 55

Welcome to the January 2022 edition of the DSC Criminal Appeals Bulletin. 

The Bulletin is aimed at assisting those involved in appellate work in England & Wales, Northern Ireland and the Caribbean. This edition contains a review of the most significant conviction appeal judgements in 2021.

In the last year the DSC Appeals Unit has celebrated the appointments of a number of past contributors to the Bulletin: HHJ Trowler QC (to senior circuit judge at the Central Criminal Court), Joel Bennathan QC (to the High Court QBD), and Richard Thomas, Liam Walker, and Sarah Vine to silk. (Congratulations also to Henrietta Hill QC – appointed to the High Court QBD, and Jude Bunting to silk.)

As in previous years, 2021 was exceptionally busy for DSC barristers involved in appeal cases. Whilst I was appearing before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Court of Appeal BVI), and the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago (co-appealing with Edward Fitzgerald QC) – alas only via Zoom from home - my colleagues were before the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and the Privy Council in some of the most important appeals this year. 

In this edition I have summarised and commented upon a selection of appeals in 2021, many involving DSC tenants. Each case name is hyperlinked to the judgement. Some of the cases were the subject of an in depth commentary in an earlier edition of the Bulletin and the hyperlinks to these articles appear in the bulletin below. 

Coming soon....Appealcast 

Starting later this month we will be sending out a link to a regular podcast looking at criminal appeal issues including comments on recent cases, interviews and short analyses of potential grounds of appeal. There will be two editions. One focusing on appellate cases in E&W and NI, the other on cases from the appeal courts of the Caribbean jurisdictions. It will be sent out to the Bulletin mailing list. If you are not on that list but would like to subscribe to the Bulletin and podcast, click here. 

DSC Criminal Appeal Unit 

Doughty Street has some of the most experienced appellate practitioners at the Bar, including the contributors to the leading works on appellate procedure – The Criminal Appeal Handbook, Blackstones Criminal Practice (appeals section), and Halsbury’s Laws (Appeals).

The third edition of Taylor on Criminal Appeals - written by a team including 14 members of DSC - is due for publication later this year. [The first and second editions have been cited variously in the House of Lords, Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland, Final Court of Appeal in Hong Kong, Court of Appeal of New Zealand, High Court of Fuji, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and Caribbean Court of Justice. For reviews of the second edition click here].

Please feel free to email Matt Butchard  or Marc Gilby or call our crime team on 0207 400 9088 to discuss instructing us in appeal cases. We also offer our instructing solicitors a free Advice Line, where they can discuss initial ideas about possible appeals, at no cost to them or their client.  More information on our criminal appeal services can be found on the Criminal Law and Appeals page of our website including links to back copies of the Bulletin and other resources.

With best wishes for a successful, healthy and safe 2022.