Practice
A senior criminal defence practitioner of almost 30 years experience who has a predominantly trial based practice covering all areas of serious crime including major drug importations, serious sexual offences including historic abuse cases, serious violence and homicide. He is an experienced leading junior who now leads in cases where a Q.C. would otherwise be employed. Mark has appeared in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division on many occasions as well as the Divisional Court and the House of Lords.
Mark has successfully defended a number of teachers and carers accused of serious sexual assaults. In the autumn of 2004 he led Mark Barlow in the defence of the former Principal of a community home in East Yorkshire on multiple charges of sexual and physical abuse of a period of many years. Because of the severe consequences of convictions in such cases he has also represented teachers in the Magistrates' Court charged with assault on pupils. He recently represented one of the defendants in the Staffordshire guinea pig farm case charged with conspiracy to blackmail following a campaign to close the farm.
In 2005 he was instructed in the Kingsway Hospital Inquests before the South Derbyshire Coroner (an inquest into the deaths of 11 patients on a psychiatric geriatric ward) on behalf of a former member of the hospital staff whose conduct was called into question. In early 2006 he represented the family of a former school assistant at an inquest where the Coroner's verdict was highly critical of procedures at suspension meetings for the school staff.
Mark undertakes hearings before the Parole Board including lifer panels as well as Judicial Review work relating to prison and criminal law cases.
Mark is a member of Garden Court Noth Chambers in Manchester.
Background
Mark studied medieval history at Cambridge in the early 1970s. In his third year he decided that the chance to study Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic history was too great to resist and he spent a year writing a dissertation on the Book of Durrow and the Book of Kells, two of the great illuminated gospel books of early Ireland.
As a young criminal lawyer Mark defended many of the protesters arrested following a large demonstration against the National Front in South London in 1977. Subsequently he has represented many protesters from political groups as well as miners, print workers, environmentalists and animal rights activists.
Notable cases
The most notable case he has been involved in was the controversial case of R v Sultan Khan [1997] A.C. 558; [1996] 2 Cr. App. R. 440 in which the Crown sought to rely on evidence obtained from a covert listening device placed in a private home. He was involved in the case from the Crown Court through to the House of Lords. As a result of this case a number of legislative changes were made to put such activities on a statutory footing including the Police Act 1997 (Part III) and most importantly the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
Other recent notable cases include:
R v Ablewhite & ors [2006] Nottingham Crown Court (unreported, the Staffordshire guinea pig farm case)
R v Holliday; R v Leboutillier [2005] 1 Cr.App.R(s).349 (70) (nuisance phone calls by animal rights activists)
A-G's Ref . Nos 58/66 of 2002 (R. v. Coudjoe and others) [2003] EWCA Crim 636 (on the levels of sentence for street gangs involved with firearms and drug supply)
R.v. Khan (Umer) sub nom. R.v. Dad and others [2002] EWCA Crim 945; [2003] Crim L.R. 684 (regarding hostile witnesses)
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