Giles Newell

Year of Call: 2007

Giles is a highly experienced criminal defence advocate who appears in trials involving the full range of serious offences. With an approachable manner and down-to-earth style, Giles prides himself on his first-rate client care and highly effective jury advocacy. He has a strong and varied fraud practice, having been instructed in cases involving sophisticated Ponzi schemes, multi-million-pound credit card fraud and high-level benefit fraud. Giles also specialises in cases involving serious sexual offences.

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Criminal Defence

Overview

Giles has developed an impressive, varied Crown Court practice over the last sixteen years, defending in cases covering the full range of serious criminal offences, including murder, terrorism offences, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, serious violence, arson, blackmail, perverting the course of justice, aggravated burglary and cash-in-transit robberies.

Notable Cases

Murder and attempted murder

R v H [2022] and [2023] Bristol Crown Court
Giles is currently representing a young person charged, alongside eight others, with murder. The case has been reported in The Guardian.

R v C [2022] Central Criminal Court
Giles represented a young man charged with the attempted murder of his then-partner.

R v J [2021] Ipswich Crown Court
Giles, led by Keir Monteith QC, represented a man accused of murdering his former partner. The case was reported on the BBC.

R v H [2021] Basildon Crown Court
Giles, led by Peter Wilcock QC, represented a man acquitted of murder during the course of a bungled burglary of a cannabis factory. The case was reported on the BBC.

R v G [2016] Central Criminal Court
Giles was led by Peter Wilcock QC of Garden Court Chambers in this murder acquittal.

R v B [2015] Central Criminal Court
Giles was led by Peter Wilcock QC in this widely-reported double murder case. This case was reported by the BBC.

Other serious violence

R v B [2022] Woolwich Crown Court
Giles represented a young music artist acquitted of a firearms offence, false imprisonment, robbery and GBH.

R v B [2019] Luton Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of offences of Section 18 GBH with intent and violent disorder. The case featured in the Channel 4 programme ’24 Hours in Police Custody’ and appeared in the national press.

R v H [2018] Luton Crown Court
Giles represented a man charged with Section 18 GBH and successfully argued for the case to be dismissed at half time.

R v M [2017] Wood Green Crown Court
Giles represented a young man charged with aggravated burglary, acquitted in a trial which involved a complex legal argument.

R v C [2016] Wood Green Crown Court
Giles represented a young man acquitted of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

R v P [2016] Brighton Crown Court
Giles represented a young woman acquitted of grievous bodily harm after a glassing in a Brighton nightclub.

R v M [2016] Isleworth Crown Court
Giles represented a youth charged with conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm after a fight at a car boot sale. After the legal argument, the CPS offered no evidence against the youth. This case was reported by the BBC.

R v S [2012] Guildford Crown Court
Giles represented a young man acquitted of a s.18 wounding following a glassing incident in a nightclub, successfully running the defence of self-defence in difficult circumstances.

R v S and others [2012] Kingston Crown Court
Giles was led in a multi-handed armed robbery case, acting for a defendant accused of conspiracy to rob cash-in-transit vehicles.

R v L and others [2012] Snaresbrook Crown Court
Giles acted as junior counsel in a multi-handed trial involving firearms and aggravated burglary in a case involving a novel legal argument about the admissibility of hearsay evidence in the days following the Court of Appeal's ruling in the case of Horncastle.

Financial crime

R v M [2023] Croydon Crown Court
Giles, led by Nerida Hardford Bell, represented a man acquitted of a multi-million-pound money laundering conspiracy.

R v K [2019] Kingston Crown Court
Giles represented a man charged with large-scale immigration fraud, led by Nick Wrack. The case was dismissed at halftime.

R v I [2018] Harrow Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of large-scale fraud.

R v M [2018] Sheffield Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of a large-scale fraudulent evasion of tobacco duty.

R v M [2017] Guildford Crown Court
Giles represented a woman charged with high-value fraud against members of her family. The Crown offered no evidence following Giles's tenacious pursuit of further disclosure which vindicated his client's account.

R v F [2015] Hove Crown Court
Giles represented the only defendant not convicted in this five-handed money-laundering case following a trial for large-scale importation of cocaine.

R v D [2015] Southwark Crown Court
Giles represented a carer charged with stealing over £50,000 from two elderly people in her charge. This case was reported by The Daily Mail.

R v A [2015] Lewes Crown Court
Giles acted for a man who falsely claimed that he was a fully-qualified barrister, whilst representing individuals at tribunal hearings. This case was reported by the BBC.

R v A [2014] Central Criminal Court
Giles acted for a man accused of 'masterminding' a £660,000 money laundering operation. This case was reported in the local press.

R v D [2013] Reading Crown Court
Giles acted as junior counsel in a case involving identity and benefit fraud, spanning two decades, to the value of over £300,000. This case was reported in the national press.

R v U and others [2012] Liverpool Crown Court
Giles was junior counsel in a complex fraud case, representing a dentist accused of a large-scale conspiracy to defraud the NHS. The judge ruled that the prosecution was an abuse of process. This case was reported in the local press.

R v P [2008] Croydon Crown Court
Giles acted as junior counsel in a high-profile multi-million-pound credit card fraud trial, representing the computer mastermind behind the largest counterfeit credit card factory uncovered in the UK to date. This case was reported in The Times.

Sexual offences

R v S [2023] Wood Green Crown Court
Giles is currently instructed to represent a young man charged with rape in a particularly complex and challenging case.

R v R [2022] and [2023] Central Criminal Court
Giles is currently instructed to represent a man charged with historic sex offences dating back to the 1980s.

R v R [2018] Snaresbrook Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of multiple counts of rape.

R v C [2017] Central Criminal Court
Giles represented a former JP Morgan employee acquitted of the sexual assault of a former colleague. This case was reported by the Telegraph.

R v A [2014] Isleworth Crown Court
Giles acted for a young man acquitted of rape.

R v K [2014] Guildford Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of sexually assaulting his partner's teenage daughter.

R v B and M [2011] Kingston Crown Court
Giles was instructed in a two-handed rape trial, successfully arguing at halftime that there was no case to answer against his client.

R v S [2012] Southwark Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of the charge of possessing over 3,000 indecent images of children.

R v M [2009] Wood Green Crown Court
Giles represented a  38-year-old man acquitted of two counts of sexual assault of the 12-year-old daughter of his partner.

Other serious offences

R v S [2022] Central Criminal Court
Giles represented a woman acquitted of assisting an offender in a multi-handed murder trial.

R v O [2021] Harrow Crown Court
Giles represented a man charged with multi-million-pound cocaine importation in this EncroChat case.

R v T and others [2019] Wood Green Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of supplying large amounts of cocaine.

R v C [2018] Swindon Crown Court
Giles represents a young man charged with being the leading figure in a 'County Lines' operation to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

R v A and others [2018] Central Criminal Court
Giles represented an individual charged with fail to disclose information about acts of terrorism.

R v F [2017] Isleworth Crown Court
Giles represented a man charged with the burglary of over £2 million pounds' worth of items from Simon Cowell's house.

R v M [2015] Southwark Crown Court
Giles represented a man charged with violent disorder arising out of the 2014 Million Mask March. The CPS offered no evidence in this case following legal argument.

R v S [2015] Isleworth Crown Court
Giles represented a young man charged with a large-scale conspiracy to burgle houses and steal sports cars across the South of England.

R v M and others [2014] Harrow Crime Court
Giles represented a young man accused of involvement in a large-scale conspiracy to burgle and steal sports cars across Hertfordshire. Whilst four of his co-defendants were convicted, Giles's client was acquitted.

R v G [2013] Guildford Crown Court
Giles acted for a man accused of child cruelty against his grandchild. Following careful negotiation, the Crown was persuaded to offer no evidence in this case.

R v D and others [2013] Wood Green Crown Court
Giles represented a father acquitted of falsely imprisoning and threatening to kill his own daughter in an alleged "honour crime."

R v A [2013] Southwark Crown Court
Giles represented a man alleged to have assisted in disposing of the body of a young woman murdered by members of her family in 2006. This case had wide press coverage including in The Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Standard.

R v H [2012] Wood Green Crown Court
Giles represented a young man accused of robbing the BBC Home Affairs correspondent at knifepoint. This case was reported by the BBC both here and here.

R v A [2012]
Giles represented one of two identical twins charged with funding terrorism abroad. This case was reported by the BBC.

R v C and others [2009] Kingston Crown Court
In a high-profile case, Giles represented a young defendant charged with a "smash and grab" robbery of £300,000 worth of jewellery from a leading London hotel.

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Financial Crime and Confiscation

R v M [2023] Croydon Crown Court
Giles, led by Nerida Hardford Bell, represented a man acquitted of a multi-million-pound money laundering conspiracy.

R v K [2019] Kingston Crown Court
Giles represented a man charged with large-scale immigration fraud, led by Nick Wrack. The case was dismissed at halftime.

R v I [2018] Harrow Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of large-scale fraud.

R v M [2018] Sheffield Crown Court
Giles represented a man acquitted of a large-scale fraudulent evasion of tobacco duty.

R v M [2017] Guildford Crown Court
Giles represented a woman charged with a high-value fraud against members of her family. The Crown offered no evidence following Giles's tenacious pursuit of further disclosure which vindicated his client's account.

R v F [2015] Hove Crown Court
Giles represented the only defendant not convicted in this five-handed money-laundering case following a trial for large-scale importation of cocaine.

R v D [2015] Southwark Crown Court
Giles represented a carer charged with stealing over £50,000 from two elderly people in her charge. This case was reported by the Daily Mail.

R v A [2015] Lewes Crown Court
Giles acted for a man who falsely claimed that he was a fully-qualified barrister, whilst representing individuals at tribunal hearings. This case was reported by the BBC.

R v A [2014] Central Criminal Court
Giles acted for a man accused of 'masterminding' a £660,000 money laundering operation. This case was reported in the local press.

R v D [2013] Reading Crown Court
Giles acted as junior counsel in a case involving identity and benefit fraud, spanning two decades, to the value of over £300,000. This case was reported in the national press.

R v U and others [2012] Liverpool Crown Court
Giles was junior counsel in a complex fraud case, representing a dentist accused of a large-scale conspiracy to defraud the NHS. The judge ruled that the prosecution was an abuse of process. This case was reported in the local press.

R v P [2008] Croydon Crown Court
Giles acted as junior counsel in a high profile multi-million-pound credit card fraud trial, representing the computer mastermind behind the largest counterfeit credit card factory uncovered in the UK to date. This case was reported in The Times.

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Criminal Appeals

Overview

Giles has secured a series of excellent results at the Court of Appeal in recent years, including a successful appeal against sentence in one of the widely-reported Gaza protest cases. His work as a criminal defence barrister encompasses courts-martial work in the UK and abroad.

Notable Cases

R v Blackshaw and others [2011] EWCA Crim 2312
Giles represented Lorri Anne McGrane, one of the appellants in what became the leading sentencing authority for offences committed during the civil disorder in August 2011. This case was reported by the BBC.

R v Askew (Martin) [2010] EWCA Crim 2102
Giles represented the second and third appellants in an appeal against sentence in one of the high-profile Gaza protest cases. Giles successfully argued for a reduction in sentence for the third appellant.

R v Mouad Amri [2008] EWCA Crim 1350
Giles successfully appealed against the imposition of a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) in a case of robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.

R v McLeod [2008] EWCA Crim 2980
Giles successfully argued that a custodial sentence of 18 months was manifestly excessive in a case of burglary and aggravated vehicle taking.

R v Manilal [2008] EWCA, Crim
Giles successfully appealed against the length of an extended sentence in a case where the appellant had pleaded guilty to assaulting his three and six-year-old sons.

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Notable Cases & News

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Background

Giles joined Garden Court Chambers in 2013. Prior to this, Giles practised at Tooks Chambers having gained tenancy in October 2007 following completion of his pupillage there.

Giles previously worked at the Refugee Legal Centre, representing asylum seekers in substantive appeals before the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. He is committed to pro bono work and has worked as a volunteer at Liberty, The Refugee Council and various legal advice centres in London.

Publications

Giles wrote an article on the Courts' response to the nationwide civil disorder in August 2011 for the October 2011 issue of Law & Finance magazine.

Training and Seminars

Giles has presented talks to solicitors on assisting foreign nationals in the criminal justice system.

Education

  • BA (Hons) in Social and Political Sciences (University of Cambridge)

Professional Membership

  • The Criminal Bar Association (CBA)
  • Liberty
  • Amnesty International
  • Reprieve
  • The Howard League for Penal Reform
  • Shelter Project: Giles was a founding member and he assisted in the development of field guidelines for the humanitarian community to support temporary shelter and settlement for forced migrants.

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