Edward Hetherington

Degree:

LLB (Hons) University of Durham. LLM Advanced Legal Practice. BVC: Northumbria University

Year of call and Inn:

2006; Middle Temple

Professional Membership:

Western Circuit; CBA

Email:

edward.hetherington@albionchambers.co.uk

Specialist Areas:

Crime, including Courts Martial

Regulatory, including Health and Safety

Practice Overview:

Edd Hetherington is a specialist crime and regulatory practitioner. Having previously retained a complementary dual practice in crime and family law, Edd predominantly dealt with care proceedings linked to criminal prosecutions, disputes over residence and contact and applications for ancillary relief. This experience has given Edd a particular understanding of the interrelationship between the criminal and family jurisdictions, enabling him to offer practical, meaningful and most importantly sensitive advice in the most grave of criminal proceedings.

Training:

Before coming to the Bar, Edd was a university law lecturer. He remains involved in delivering lectures to groups of legal professionals and is happy to write and deliver seminars tailored to particular organisations. He is involved in advocacy training, supporting postgraduate students at UWE, and is a regular speaker for a national commercial professional development agency, providing accredited CPD and training to legal professionals from across the country.

Areas of Practice

Crime

Tab 1 Title:

Edd is a specialist in crime, routinely instructed by both the prosecution and defence in the most complex and serious of cases, including murder, rape, fraud, firearms and supply of controlled drugs.

Frequently instructed in matters involving lay clients with serious learning difficulties and mental health problems, Edd has demonstrated an ability to form effective relationships of trust with those clients. He is very experienced in working with young, vulnerable defendants and witnesses.

Having developed a particular specialism in proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Edd has appeared in numerous contested confiscation and money laundering applications, including a three-week hearing following a complex advance fee fraud trial.

As a CPS Panel Level 3 prosecutor, Edd also receives instructions from the Complex Case Unit, as well as HMRC, the DWP and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills in intricate matters such as bankruptcy, hidden asset cases and asset disposal.

Cases of Interest:

Defence:

R v Manh - Acquittal in production of cannabis trial, despite fingerprints of defendant being found on the switch which provided power to growing equipment and a drinking glass in the next room.
R v Malik and others - Allegations of conspiracies to steal high value motor vehicles then use a “chop shop” to dismantle them and sell the untraceable parts.
R v Morris - Online grooming “detected” by an internet paedophile vigilante group who posed as an underage girl and later confronted the defendant whilst filming him.
R v Said - Led junior in a murder trial of a man involved in a stabbing in the Gloucester area. Both victim and defendant were known drug dealers. Issues of self-defence and lack of intent in context of multiple knife wounds.
R v Williams - Reduction of mandatory minimum term of five years for possessing a prohibited firearm, resulting in a sentence of less than two years.
R v Boshoff - Court of Appeal decision on the proper level of reduction to be awarded when implementing suspended sentences to reflect compliance with community requirements and when a failure to give that credit will render a sentence ‘manifestly excessive’. Sentence reduced on appeal.
R v D-A - Allegations of kidnap and violent offences arising from an alleged journey by a group of individuals from London to South Wales to ‘enforce’ an illegal unpaid debt.
R v Pearce - Fraudulent trading and handling stolen goods trial. Defendant worked in a scrap metal business which was the focus of an undercover police operation to sell “stolen” scrap metal over a period of weeks.
R v Margetts - Systematic theft from employer in the context of a family business.
R v Harris - Trial of rape allegations concerning forced entry to victim’s premises, knife-point sexual attacks and sustained periods of gratuitous degradation.
R v Thole and others - Led junior for the defence in advance fee fraud case and subsequent POCA proceedings.

Prosecution:

R v Clarke - Trial concerning a stabbing in a public house, aftermath captured on CCTV.
R v James - Prosecuting allegations of VAT fraud by manipulation of book-keeping practises, concealing invoices and non-declaration of monies received.
R v Murgelas - Prosecuting allegations of sexual offences against vulnerable victims.
R v Alvarez - Case in which the defendant had taken money from drug traffickers and mixed it with legitimate business funds in order to launder the proceeds of crime.
R v Volkan, Deniz and Wali - Multi-handed violent disorder in Bristol City Centre, arising from a late-night incident originating inside a take-away shop and involving weapons.
Operation Delphi II - Led junior for the prosecution in an allegation of conspiracy to supply substantial volumes of Class A drugs from the North of England to locations across the South.
Operation Anthill - Led junior for prosecution in multi-handed drugs case involving importation of cannabis and retailing of Class A drugs through a public house.
Operation Lascar - Led junior for the prosecution in a case of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and firearms offences.

Crime Clerks:
Bonnie Colbeck
E:bonnie.colbeck@albionchambers.co.uk
T: 0117 311 0301

Ken Duthie
E:ken.duthie@albionchambers.co.uk
T: 0117 311 0368

Regulatory

Tab 2 Title:

Edd is regularly instructed in a diverse range of proceedings, including regulatory crime prosecutions and matters outside of the crime jurisdiction. He acts for both the prosecution and defence, and therefore has a thorough understanding of the importance of the timing of particular legal submissions and the management of litigation, in order to secure the most advantageous outcome for his clients.

Edd has significant experience acting in Local Authority prosecutions, including food hygiene, listed buildings, benefit fraud, forced evictions and breach of licenses. He has considerable experience also in applications for closure orders and in prosecutions initiated by the HSE, Companies House, the Food Standards Agency and the RSPCA, with a specific interest in cases brought under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

With particular expertise in cases brought under the Child Support Act against non-resident parents, (formerly by CMEC or CSA) Edd has been instructed to advise on points of human rights law and enforcement.

Edd is also instructed by a specialist body set up to investigate fraudulent use of disabled parking badges, and has a keen interest in matters relating to taxi licensing appeals.

In addition to work in the criminal courts, Edd conducts public enquiries convened by VOSA, prison adjudications, cash forfeiture hearings and matters of professional discipline. He has also acted as Legal Advisor to Local Authority committees in a variety of licensing applications.

Cases of Interest:

SBC v Bukhsh - Food hygiene prosecution of a restauranteur who had previously been prosecuted for poor hygiene practises and who refused to improve his premises or engage with the Local Authority.
R v Taylor - Acted for a farmer whose working dog had bitten a child guest at a campsite run on part of his farm. Secured the suspension of a destruction order, meaning that the dog was not destroyed.
BGCBC v Mohammed - Instructed on behalf of a taxi driver whose licence had been revoked for failing a “knowledge test” which was not properly incorporated into the relevant licensing Code.
R v Lopatka - Prosecuting a parent for failing to ensure their child attended school. One of the first prosecutions following the landmark Court of Appeal decision in Platt.
R v Saxena - Defence in a Companies House prosecution and linked application to disqualify a company director.
Gloucester C.C. v Mellino - Representing a building contractor accused of demolishing part of a listed building.
VOSA v Phillips - Representation of a vehicle operator in a public inquiry regarding tachometer irregularities.
Re Paddock and Mills - Representing a senior civil servant in professional conduct proceedings
CSA v Guest - Represented the CSA in a complex set of proceedings to enforce unpaid child maintenance.