INTRODUCTION. An experienced murder case lawyer answers the question asked
of criminal barristers in England: how can they represent 'murderers' and
'rapists'. Explains the different type of murder charge (homicide) such as
acting in self-defence, diminished responsibility and mental incapacity
THE WIMBLEDON COMMON MURDER. Clegg takes a phone call from a solicitor:
will he represent a man accused of killing Rachel Nickell on heathland in
London in July 1992? Colin Stagg, a local man, looks similar to a witness
description. Convinced of his guilt, detectives set up a honeytrap
operation
PERRY MASON AND THE ART OF ADVOCACY. Growing up in a working-class home in
Essex in 1960s England, Clegg loves the drama and showdowns of the American
legal TV show Perry Mason and resolves to become a criminal barrister. He
studies law at Bristol University and joins Gray's Inn, an inn of court
THE MURDER OF SAMANTHA BISSET. Samantha Bisset and her daughter Jazmine
have been savagely stabbed at their one-bedroom flat in Plumstead, south
London. When Clegg reads the case papers for the defence of Robert Napper,
he has a good idea who killed them. Criminal profiler Paul Britton does not
RONNIE TROTT. After passing the Bar Finals, Clegg takes the final step for
any law student intent on becoming a practising barrister: a pupillage.
Clegg works for an idiosyncratic, chain-smoking, vegetarian lawyer. He
learns to cover up to 10 cases a day in the magistrates courts around
London
THE CHILLENDEN MURDERS. Sometimes a barrister feels he will win a case.
When he acts for Michael Stone, Clegg feels the dice are loaded against
him. Stone, a heroin addict, is arrested in 1997 and charged with the
murders of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell
in Kent
LEARNING HOW TO FIGHT A CASE. During the 1970s and early 1980s Clegg
regularly defends clients accused of robbery, burglary and assault.
Occasionally he acts as a junior barrister in more serious cases. As his
workload intensifies, he learns the secrets to running a successful defence
in law courts
HELEN HODGSON. In the 1970s and 1980s defendants often retract
'confessions' after they have been charged. In 1985, the Police and
Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) tightens police rules. Clegg mounts an appeal
for Cherie McGovern, convicted of murdering a woman in a grisly case
involving communal living
MUTINY AT 3 HARE COURT. Inside barristers chambers in London a revolt brews
against a hard-drinking head clerk. The leading chambers in the 1970s is 5
King’s Bench Walk, 6 Kings Bench Walk, and Queen Elizabeth Buildings. A new
set is established, headed by a personal injury silk, Michael Lewis QC
WAKING THE DEAD IN BELARUS. Clegg takes on the UK's first case under 1991
War Crimes Act and is introduced to a gentle 84-year-old from Surrey:
Szymon Serafinowicz, who is accused of murdering Jews during World War II.
Simon Wiesenthal Centre says he was ‘Commander’ of Belarussian police in
Mir
HOW TO BECOME A QC. Becoming a Queen’s Counsel is the pinnacle of
achievement for a British barrister. A Queen’s Counsel, or QC, is one of
‘Her Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law’. It’s an honorific rank (King’s
Counsel, when there is a king on the English throne). The process is
mysterious
ANDRUSHA THE BASTARD. It is -30 degrees and Clegg's lips are so cold he can
barely speak. He is in Belarus in the former Soviet Union, defending
another former member of the wartime police accused of war crimes. Unlike
his compatriot Szymon Serafinowicz, Anthony Sawoniuk is a harder man to
defend
DEFENDING FRAUDSTERS. In his first serious fraud case, Clegg defends
Wallace Duncan Smith, a banker in the City of London, who is accused of
fraudulent trades – paying more than £50m for fictitious Canadian bonds
while MD of Wallace Smith Trust Corporation. The Serious Fraud Office is on
the other side
CONVICTED BY EARPRINT. Detectives in West Yorkshire call in Dutch forensics
witness Cornelis van der Lugt to solve the murder of pensioner Dorothy
Wood, killed by a burglar. Clegg argues against the conviction of Mark
Gallagher, a burglar whose earprint has been matched to a smudge on a
window
WINNING THE TRUST OF A JUDGE. The secrets and quirks of the judges who try
criminal cases in England. 'As a barrister, I’ve always thought it’s
desirable to be well-prepared and on good terms with a judge because you
tend to get what you want more often whereas an ill-prepared or rude
advocate...'
PRIVATE CLEGG AND THE JOYRIDERS. Clegg appeals the case of a Parachute
Regiment soldier accused of murdering teenagers Martin Peake and Karen
Reilly, whose car crashes through a checkpoint in Northern Ireland. Clegg's
junior barrister is Keir Starmer, who later becomes leader of the Labour
Party
HOW TO APPEAL TO A JURY. When a barrister is addressing a jury, they must
pay close attention. Are jurors interested or bored? Every intervention,
comment and tactic should be weighed. The tradecraft and advocacy skills of
a criminal lawyer are revealed, including some surprises
A MURDER WITHOUT A BODY. One day retired betting shop manager Don Banfield
went into his local police station and said: ‘I think my wife is trying to
kill me’. He then disappeared. Did the police have enough evidence to
charge his wife without finding his body? They thought so. Were they right?
21ST CENTURY SET. Twenty-two years after squatting at 3 Hare Court,
clinging onto his place with his fingertips, Clegg becomes Head of
Chambers. When the Inner Temple refurbishes its old building, the set moves
into new premises in Essex Street, then into 2 Bedford Row, a modern legal
practice
WAR CRIMES IN THE BALKANS. Advocating at International Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, representing Duško Tadić, a Bosnian Serb
accused of the ethnic cleansing of Muslims – the first man to be convicted
by an international court of war crimes since the Nazi Nuremberg trials
INSIDE CHAMBERS – RIVALRY AND CAMARADERIE. The real story of life inside a
London barristers chambers, including how to motivate under-performing
lawyers, depression and alcoholism among advocates, relationships with
solicitors who might allocate juicy cases and the practicalities of running
a set
THE MURDER OF JILL DANDO. At 11.30am on 26 April 1999 a BBC Tv presenter is
shot dead outside her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham. A local man, Barrie
George, is convicted of killing her. Amid intense media coverage, Clegg
appeals the key ballistics evidence in the case
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION. Although Clegg mostly represents individuals, the
QC also advises multinational companies on criminal law. Providing certain
conditions are met, a company can be prosecuted and fined like any human
defendant in the criminal courts. Most cases involve bribery and corruption
A GHETTO SHOOT-OUT IN JAMAICA. Like other top lawyers, Clegg works pro bono
on worthwhile cases. He represents a Jamaican gangster, Marlon Moodie, in
his appeal against the death sentence for killing Police Constable Dewar,
under the joint enterprise rule. UK Privy Council decides if he should hang
TRYING TIME FOR LEGAL AID. The criminal justice system in England and Wales
has been battered by a decade of government cuts. Fed up with the fall in
fees and the inability to hire expert witnesses he has worked with for
years, Clegg declines to take any more public-funded cases
THE MURDER OF JOANNA YATES. The 25-year-old landscape gardener and her
boyfriend Greg Reardon shared a flat in a Victorian house on Canynge Road
in Clifton, Bristol. She disappeared in Christmas 2010. Clegg represents
the neighbour accused of murdering her, the Dutch national Vincent Tabak
PRIVATE CLIENTS. Clegg takes on private clients, often pre-charge. 'If I
feel that the police case is weak I may make representations to the Crown
Prosecution Service arguing that the evidence against my client, as
disclosed to me, does not meet the threshold required for charging.'
THE PHONE HACKING TRIAL. At the trial of Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson and
journalists from Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, Clegg acts for Mark Hanna,
security chief of News International – accused of hiding evidence while the
Metropolitan Police look for evidence of illegal voicemail interception
AFTERWORD: A LIFE OF CRIME. As head of chambers, Clegg knows of massive
insecurity among many, if not most barristers about the future of the
profession and their place in it. They worry about where the next brief is
coming from, how much work they will have, how they will maintain their
standing
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
INDEX. Full list of references in the text. Such as the As: affair, Africa,
Ahmci, Allied Irish Bank, Allies, arguing in the alternative, Altman Brian,
Alzheimer’s Disease, Amsterdam, Andrusha the Bastard, anti-Semitic,
Antoinette Marie, Archbishop of Canterbury, Armed robbery, Armstrong Dean,
Asia
