Appointments
• Queen's Counsel 2008
• Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, 2007
• Crown Court Recorder since 1993.
[County Court Recorder 1995-2005]
Professional Associations
• Criminal Bar Association
• South Eastern and Western Circuits
General Professional Background
Brian won his first jury acquittal at the Old Bailey when only twenty-two years of age, and has practised continually at the criminal bar ever since.
He believes in hard work and careful preparation, and prepares his cases on the basis that the key to success is often simply knowing the case better than his opponent.
Between 1971 and 1992, Brian practised exclusively from London. From 1992 to 2002, he was Head of Chambers at South Western Chambers, Taunton and practised mainly on the Western Circuit, of which he remains a member. In 2003, he returned to London, and now practises throughout England and Wales. He is equally comfortable and experienced in defence and prosecution work. His enthusiasm for the job continues unabated!
Amongst other things, so far in 2011, Brian has defended in murder, and prosecuted a Russian oil fraud, as well as taking part in an EU mission to northern Cyprus and a United Kingdom project in the Eastern Caribbean.
Areas of specialisation
Brian specialises in serious crime of all varieties, particularly serious fraud and money laundering. He is a registered European Union TAIEX expert on Money Laundering. He has lectured to the Northern Cypriot “Judiciary” on Anti Money Laundering Law, and acted as a facilitator at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Annual Conference 2011, lecturing on Anti Money Laundering law and Confiscation.
Tribunals: Brian defends before VAT Tribunals and a variety of Professional Disciplinary Tribunals.
Defence: Brian has defended in all types of serious crime over the years. He led for the defence in the Robinsons SFO trial at Bristol. His career includes defending in one of the Guinness trials and leading the defence for the 2nd Defendant in the Levitt trial [1993]. He has led for the defence in a number of cases involving substantial P.I.I. applications. His expertise in relation to the use of covert listening devices led to his appointment as a Consultant Editor of the expert periodical: Forensic Linguistics. In 2008 Brian defended the alleged “Mr Big” in Operation Compass, an eight-handed Vietnamese gang murder at the Cardiff Crown Court. In 2009, he defended in boiler room fraud and gang murder trials, and led the defence of the alleged “Mr Big” in Operation Jericho at Birmingham Crown Court. In 2010, he defended in one of the country’s largest ever cannabis drug supply trials at Bristol Crown Court.
Prosecution: Brian has extensive experience of prosecuting serious crime, and is currently on the Serious Fraud Office List of Queen’s Counsel. He has prosecuted, amongst others, for the SFO, the Revenue and Customs, CPS Serious Casework and the CPS Specialist Fraud Department. . Since returning full time to London in 2003, he has been involved in a leading role in a number of substantial money laundering cases, most recently successfully prosecuting the cases of Operation Horizon [Southwark], Operation Nail [Croydon], Operation Overdraft [ILCC] and Operation Phoenix [Woolwich], all major trials involving international fraud, money laundering and drugs.
Judicial: Brian has over twenty years experience of sitting as a part-time Crown Court Judge [a Recorder]. He also sat as a County Court Recorder between 1995 and 2005. He has no ambition to join the full-time judiciary, but finds that the experience of sitting gives him a very valuable perspective on how best to use his advocacy skills in the criminal courts.
Extra-practice activities and interests
Brian was honoured in 2007 by the President of Italy, who bestowed on him the rank of a Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for his work with the Monte San Martino Trust, of which he was the Chairman from 1997-2005. He continues to work to commemorate the sacrifices made by Italians between 1943-5 in support of escaped Allied prisoners of war and Allied combatants behind enemy lines, and to foster good relations between Italy and the United Kingdom.
Brian is an enthusiastic mountain walker, and re-creates annually the escape trails used by Second World War P.O.W’s in Northern Italy, where, in the little spare time that he has, he runs a small historical centre. In September 2007, Brian successfully led an expedition which re-traced the escape route of S.A.S. Operation Galia for the first time since 1945, walking and climbing for forty-four hours over four days between Rossano and Seravezza in the Nothern Tuscan mountains. He is a historian of the Italian Partisan War, and a published author [“SAS in Tuscany”, published by Pen and Sword, 2011]. His current work: “The Real James Bond – the story that Ian Fleming was Forbidden to Write” is nearing completion.
Brian is married with four children. He is a Vice President of Wellington Rugby Club in Somerset, and a member of the M.C.C.
