Colston: The Legal Arguments - Free Webinar

With the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in its final stages, we invite you to a joint webinar by Matrix and Garden Court Chambers, to explore the legal defences in the Colston Four case, one of the most high-profile criminal trials in recent years, and look ahead to what the future of protest law may hold. This webinar is open to the public.

On the panel will be:

• Tom Wainwright, Garden Court Chambers
• Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, Matrix Chambers
• Raj Chada, Hodge Jones and Allen Solicitors

Kevin Blowe of Netpol will chair the webinar.
 

Speaker Profiles

Tom Wainwright, Garden Court Chambers
Tom has appeared in some of the most high-profile cases of recent years including the Colston 4, Hatton Garden burglary, the 'Stansted 15’ protestors and representing the father of Jack Letts in his trial for funding terrorism. Tom has a particular interest and experience in Serious Fraud and Confiscation, Terrorism, Protest Cases and Criminal Appeals. He is regularly instructed as Leading Junior Counsel in serious high-profile cases of significant complexity and legal importance. As lead author on The Protest Handbook (2nd ed. Bloomsbury 2020), Tom specialises in upholding protestors' rights under Articles 8, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and challenging the excessive or unlawful use of force by police officers. Tom's practice in this area includes high-profile cases such as the 'Rotherham 12', the 'Occupy Parliament' demonstrations, R v Caroline Lucas MP and R v Zac King and Alfie Meadows.

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, Matrix Chambers
Blinne has an extensive practice across human rights, public international law, criminal law and public law. She advises and acts for individuals, States, NGOs and other national and international bodies, appearing in domestic courts at all levels, and before international courts and tribunals. Blinne is recommended in the domestic legal directories in five areas: public international law; civil liberties and human rights; administrative and public law; criminal law; and protest law. She is also listed in Chambers Global in the field of public international law. Blinne was instructed in the trial of the “Colston 4”, acquitted for their role in toppling the statue of a slaver in Bristol, and the “Stansted 15”, acquitted on appeal for having blocked a deportation flight at Stansted Airport. She was also instructed in DPP v. Ziegler, the seminal Supreme Court case on the approach to Articles 10 and 11 in a protest context.

Raj Chada, Hodge Jones and Allen Solicitors
Raj is the Head of the Criminal Defence, Financial Crime and Regulatory Department at Hodge Jones & Allen. He is recommended in Chambers and Legal 500 and is one of the country’s leading criminal lawyers with expertise in serious and complex crime, public order and financial crime. Raj acted in the “Stansted 15” trial, skillfully representing all 15 defendants accused of terror-related offences successfully. Raj won the Criminal Lawyer of Year Award at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2012 and has been shortlisted on 3 occasions as “Advocate of the Year” by the Law Society Excellence Awards, being commended in 2017. He was also shortlisted as “Criminal Lawyer of the Year” by the Society of Asian Lawyers in 2017 and 2018.

Kevin Blowe, Network for Police Monitoring 
Kevin Blowe was the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) coordinator from 2014 and became its Campaigns Coordinator in 2021 when Netpol's staff team expanded. He has been active in community-based police monitoring initiatives since 1990, was the secretary of the United Families and Friends Campaign from 1998 to 2009 and most recently worked for six years with anti-fracking groups to challenge the oppressive policing and surveillance targeting their protests. He is the co-author of "Restricting Rebellion", Netpol's report on the policing of Extinction Rebellion protests in London in 2019.