Ben Cooper

Practice: Crime, Human Rights, Extradition

Practice Profile
Crime; Human Rights (test cases on Art. 3,5,6,7,8, & 9 ECHR);

Extradition: current cases include defending cyberterrorist ''Pentagon computer hacker'' against the USA, drugs & money laundering conspiracies against Australia & Spain & war crimes against Croatia; murder and organised crime against Poland

• Cited in both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 for expertise in extradition

Serious fraud; Extensive national practice defending drug traffickers, producers & suppliers & confiscations: See reported cases - Quayle 2005, Lehmann 2004, Stroud 2003, Taylor 2002 & Ham Art.8 test case for Liberty; Court of Appeal criminal appeals, CCRC & Strasbourg referrals; Caribbean Privy Council appeals incl. Clifton Shaw & Ors - fresh evidence Jamaican capital multiple murder; Blanchfield v AG of Trinidad & Tobago - Constitutional WW2 land claim;

Prisoners Rights: judicial reviews, parole board & disciplinary hearings for prisoners; Civil actions against the police & inquests.

VOLUNTARY WORK

Represented Jamaica Council for Human Rights before United Nations Human Rights Committee and gave evidence on Trinidad and Tobago. Prepared reports for the UNHRC re: police, prisons and death penalty and addressed the Committee on the ICCPR prior to their examination of the AG and Commissioner of Prisons from Jamaica.
The Centre for Justice and International Law, Washington DC
Advocate for execution reprieves. IACHR Caribbean police and prison cases.
The Bar Caribbean Pro Bono Committee:
Formed the committee with the Bar Human Rights Committee with barristers who sponsored work in Jamaica to ensure continuity of the civil barristers sponsoring death penalty work on the ground. Criminal chambers now regularly send barristers to assist attorneys on capital trials.

Cases

Judicial Reviews reported:

• R (Abbasi) v SoS for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs [COA] [2003] U.K.H.R.R. 76 & E.H.R.L.R.: JR of inactivity of Foreign Office in protecting British citizens at Guantanamo Bay: MR criticized US Executive policy & US judgments re: absence of Habeas Corpus; (QC for High Crt and COA. Jnr. alone for initial advices & LSC hearing when High Court refused permission.)

• R (Cleary) v Highbury Corner Mags & (1) MET Police (2) SoS Home Dept.: Times, 12/9/2006, [2007] 1 All E.R. 270, various reports & journals &. Archbold: Successful art.6 & 8 challenge to absence of due process guidelines for Closure (eviction) Orders under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. MET & Home Office policies on disclosure & anonymous hearsay evidence overturned. (Jnr. alone against QC & junior for the MET & junior for SoS.)

• R (Thompson) v Northumbria Police (2001) 1 WLR 1342; (2001) 4 All ER 354. JR of deputy chief constable for excluding a solicitor's rep. from police stations in the area. Duty Solicitor Scheme did not entitle a blanket exclusion direction. (With QC).

Unreported:

• JR of police search and seizure of a solicitor's offices; (With leading junior)

• JR re: use of motorcycle helmets inside BMW caged motorbikes; (Junior alone)

• JR re: custody time limits; (Junior alone)

• Expert report for JR of the Home Secretary's authority to proceed with a deportation of a Jamaican facing death sentence in Jamaica.

Prison law judicial review:

• Successful judicial reviews in respect of inadequate health care for prisoners and challenges to Category A status of convicted murderer, head of Columbian drugs cartel; Parole Board, licence and disciplinary hearings at various HMPs; (All junior alone)

Trinidad and Tobago public law work:

• 3rd junior to counsel to the Royal Commission into the administration of justice and independence of the judiciary in Trinidad and Tobago, May-June 2000: summarised and prepared 300 submissions for the Commissioners: the first exhibit to the enquiry; selected witnesses and prepared them for their live testimony before the enquiry; Led to the Lord MacKay report.

Privy Council - civil/ constitutional

• Blanchfield & Ors v AG of Trinidad and Tobago (No.1 of 2002) UKPC. Private constitutional appeal reclaiming a large area of land from the Trinidadian Gvt. that the British Gvt. seized from farmers and leased to the US military in WW2 for the war effort; (With QC)

Public law Judicial Reviews arising out of extradition:

• Talha Ahsan v AG and DPP: 9/11 jihad allegations incl. conspiracy to bomb US battleship. Test case JR of AG's decision not to apply Guidelines re: joint jurisdictional cases - refusal to consider UK prosecution under terrorism legislation - lawfulness of AG & DPP's conflict of interest in acting for US & considering UK prosecution; Ahsan v USA & SoS: statutory appeal pending re: art. 3,5,6 & 8. (with QC)

• Goodyer v SoS Home Dpt.: s.6 HRA obligation of SoS & jurisdiction of High Crt. to hear out of time appeal - SoS refusal to abandon D's surrender to T&T after previous lawyers failed to lodge appeal on time - intervention of High Court not to remove D; Trinidad & Tobago v Goodyer: statutory appeal re Art.6 prejudice where T&T lost D's file for 3 years before resurrecting drug trafficking allegation; test case on appalling prison conditions.

• McKinnon v SoS Home Dpt.: JR of SoS's failure to reconsider D's human rights under s.6 HRA in addition to narrowly defined statutory duty.post service of new evidence and advent of AG Guidelines re forum;

• Croatia v Travica: War crimes (4 murders) -pending JR re: fair trial prejudice for a Serb in a local Croatian criminal court. New reps. re: transfer to Serbian War Crimes court;

• Poland v Lakatus: D recently released on bail after 4 years in HMP Brixton awaiting extradition under previous lawyers. Numerous offences of organized crime: violent robberies and racketeering: awaiting decision from SoS re: exceptional Article 8 circumstances where D's daughter receiving treatment for leukemia in London.

Extradition

• R (on the application of Spain) v Bow Street Magistrates' Court & Sander & ors: The Times, September 19, 06, (2006) 156 N.L.J. 1440: Guideline case on abuse of process in extradition law following interlocutory JR of Magistrate''s disclosure order brought by Spain. Art.13 ECHR and application of EU law to extradition.

• Scuka v Governor of Brixton Prison: J.P. 2003, 167(13), 223; [2003] EWHC 544; 2003 WL 933499: Extradition & parallel successful asylum claim.

• Miklis v Deputy Prosecutor General of Lithuania: (2006) 4 All ER 808, The Independent, June 19 2006: Standard of proof and evidence for Art. 3 ECHR claim.

Appeals

Crown Court:

• R v Ham (July 2001): discussed in Rudi Fortson, Misuse of Drugs, 4th Ed. 2002. Article 8 privacy test case for Liberty re: prosecutions for possession of personal quantity of cannabis.

Publications:

• The Times law pages: death penalty in Jamaica; The London Advocate: British Government's role in the legality of detentions in Guantanamo Bay, Defences for drugs trials; The CBA Newsletter, Counsel.

• Freelance journalism for all English national daily broadsheets and tabloids including the front page of The Guardian and The Financial Times;
  

Year of Call

1999

Email Address

b.cooper@doughtystreet.co.uk

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Specialist Teams

Member :

• Criminal Law
• Extradition
• Human Rights
• International Law Group
• Prisoner's Rights
• Public and Administrative Law
• Regulatory and Financial Crime