James Reilly was instructed to represent a scrap metal dealer at Bolton Crown Court, due to his expertise in waste recycling matters and, in particular, British Telecom and Rail Cable. The charges faced included attempting to handle stolen goods and S.327 POCA. After a seven-day trial, our client was acquitted by a jury in just one hour and ten minutes!- Sean and James Reilly also represented a client at the Court of Appeal in a S.327 POCA matter. Our client had previously pleaded guilty after having had an application to stay proceedings refused. As the prosecution had put their case on the basis of suspicion and the Court of Appeal had previously ruled in another case dealt with by Lewis Nedas in January 2014 that suspicion is not enough. Our client’s conviction was duly quashed.
- James Reilly represented a client convicted at the Magistrates’ Court of an offence of S.39 common assault for an appeal against the conviction at Isleworth Crown Court. The facts of the case were that our client had been out in Central London in December 2013 when he and a friend had their drinks spiked. They could not remember what happened, however they were removed from a bar and it was alleged that they had assaulted a member of staff and resisted arrest. On arrest, our client asked the police to give him a blood test at the police station, and asked to see the CCTV from the bar. The police, however, lost the CCTV and refused to give our client a blood test in the police station. James argued that there had been an abuse of process in this matter and was successful in his submissions. The appeal against conviction was allowed and our client was very happy.
