Peter Lownds is listed in the Chambers and Partners Directory 2009 for the third year in row as one of the leading junior barristers in criminal law.
He is a former solicitor. As a solicitor he worked for major City law firm Slaughter and May and gained considerable experience litigating substantial commercial cases, including complex fraud.
Since transferring to the Bar in 1998 he has gained extensive trial experience and developed a practice focusing almost exclusively on terrorism, animal rights, fraud, homicide and serious drugs offences. He regularly acts as leading junior or junior counsel in complex and substantial cases. He has particular expertise in those requiring the forensic examination of large amounts of material and the detailed preparation of the defence.
Terrorism:
He is junior counsel on an ongoing terrorism case in which the House of Lords have very recently clarified the ingredients of the offences under s57 and s58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (R v G; R v J [2009] UKHL 13).
Last year he acted for the only acquitted defendant in a serious and complex terrorism trial concerning allegations of possession of computer related terrorist materials for a terrorist purpose (R v Khan and others, click here for the BBC news story.
His other terrorism work includes representing a client who was accused of inciting murder over the internet by running the media wing of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AG Ref No. 85, 86 and 87 of 2007, R v Tsouli and others, click here for the BBC news story). In that case the volume of computer generated material was so extensive that it was cited in Parliament by the Government as the justification for the failed attempt to extend the period of pre-charge detention to 90 days.
Animal rights:
He has very recently completed the trial and re-trial of a man accused of carrying out a bombing campaign in opposition to Oxford University's animal experimentation laboratory (R v Broughton, click here for the BBC news story). The case included the first challenge within this jurisdiction to the reliability of low template DNA evidence. His past experience also includes acting for the main defendant in a high profile conspiracy to burgle an animal laboratory (AG Ref No. 54 of 2005, R v Keith Mann).
He is currently instructed on behalf of a man charged with murder in regard to a death caused by a gyrocopter during a hunt. He is also instructed on behalf of a defendant charged with conspiracy to blackmail Huntington Life Sciences in the largest and most complex animal rights case ever.
Fraud:
He is currently instructed for the main defendant in a very substantial fraud and money laundering case relating to an immigration consultancy company and the obtaining of false documentation. He is also instructed on two other multi-defendant frauds involving the benefits agency and an international mortgage fraud respectively. Historically he has considerable experience in representing clients accused of vehicle related fraud and acted for the main defendant in the largest motor insurance fraud involving false accident claims (R v Jalil and others).
Homicide:
He was junior counsel for the first defendant at the trial concerning the double murder of John and Joan Stirland ("The Trusthorpe Murders", click for the BBC new story). He is often instructed in gangland related murder cases. Last year he represented a client in a murder case which was one of the first cases to involve consideration of issues of witness anonymity under Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008.
Other information:
He was junior counsel on two independent mental health inquiries into the care and treatment of two men convicted of separate murders in the late 1990s.
He has acted for defendants in Court Martial proceedings.
He undertakes pro-bono work and is instructed on Caribbean Death Row cases. He has acted as junior counsel on a case before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (Tahsin Acar v Turkey (2004) 38 EHRR 12).
He has presented training courses in person, on video and over the Internet. He is a member of Liberty, Criminal Bar Association, Legal Action Group, Society of Labour Lawyers and Young Fraud Lawyers Association.
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Year of Call
1998
Admitted Solicitor
1993
Education
BSc (Hons)
Email Address
p.lownds@doughtystreet.co.uk
Specialist Teams
Member :
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