Criminal Defence
S.1 of the 1968 Firearms Act makes it an absolute offence to possess or purchase either a firearm or ammunition without a certificate.
S.1 of the 1968 Firearms Act makes it an absolute offence to possess or purchase either a firearm or ammunition without a certificate.
It is also an offence to carry an imitation firearm in a public place. Incapacitant sprays are also prohibited in the same way.
We have represented young individuals who had not appreciated the restrictive and far-reaching scope of the legislation as well as those charges with more flagrant breaches of the legislation.
Our experts also work with cases involving s.5 firearms e.g. machine guns and cases where firearms form only part of the offence committed.
Represented a defendant that was charged with the possession of a firearm.
Represented a defendant charged with one count of possession of a firearm. The defendant was acquitted following trial.
Represented the defendant who was charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The Crown accepted a lesser offence to possession of the firearm only.
Solicitor
Represented a defendant charged with the supply of class A drugs and possession of a disguised firearm. The Crown accepted pleas to possession of class A drugs and through defence expert evidence we successfully argued that the firearm was not disguised and had dual purpose which therefore fell out of the guidelines of a minimum 5 year sentence.
This was a large investigation by the Specialist Crime and Operations Unit attached to New Scotland Yard. Over ten defendants were accused of conspiring to purchase and sell illegal firearms and ammunition from Eastern Europe. The case span months of careful undercover surveillance by video footage and phones, and the case span extensive cell site evidence against most defendants, as well as messages between all parties. Almost 30,000 pages of evidence was served and the defence team had to carefully analyse the evidence, instructing cell site experts and Lithuanian language experts to dispute interpretations.