Profile
Beccy Trowler QC has been described as being “in a league of her own” and it is said that “her preparation and grasp of the facts are phenomenal” (Chambers and Partners 2013). She has previously been described as a “supremely intelligent and astute barrister” (2012 ed.) with "excellent judgment and fine analytical skills" (2011 ed.) and as being "meticulous in preparation” with “a cool, tactical approach” (2010 ed.).
Beccy has extensive experience in serious and complex criminal cases including homicide and financial crime. She has appeared in many legally significant and/or high profile trials and appeals including: Al-Khawaja and Tahery v UK, Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (whether sole or decisive hearsay evidence is in breach of Article 6); Chaytor and Ors, Supreme Court, (ambit of parliamentary privilege); Jim Devine (former MP charged with false claims in relation to parliamentary expenses); The Home Office Independent Review of the forensic investigation into the killing of Damilola Taylor (representing the Forensic Science Service); Hamza (soliciting the murder of four members of the Egyptian Government); the ‘Dragons Den’ fraud. She is also instructed in extradition appeals and criminal related civil work.
Her breadth of experience in the most serious and complex matters is illustrated by the cases in which she is currently or recently instructed. In 2012 she represented a Kazakstani national subject to a disclosure order and an order for cross-examination in the context of a series of fraud claims in which the JSB BTA Bank seek to recover some £5bn (Commercial Court); an alleged Al Qaeda operative whose extradition was sought by the USA (High Court); a young man charged with perverting the course of justice arising from arson in order to cover up a murder (Central Criminal Court); an elderly man charged with conspiracy to steal £1million worth of gold and silver bullion (Central Criminal Court); and she was instructed to advise an International Trade Association in relation to the potential liability of the company and its officers arising from fraudulent expenses claims by its members; and a major political party in relation to the eligibility of a candidate for the office of Police an Crime Commissioner.
In 2013 she is instructed to represent a member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development charged with corruption (Central Criminal Court); the British Humanist Association in their intervention on assisted dying in the Nicklinson appeal (Civil Court of Appeal); the captain of a ship charged with criminally negligent navigation of the vessel (British Virgin Islands), a taxi driver charged with the murder of the head of a north London Turkish criminal gang (Central Criminal Court); a young man charged with the killing of his partner (Central Criminal Court); a former MD of a mobile phone company in £multi million confiscation proceedings; an elderly man appealing against his convictions in the 1970s for six murders (Criminal Court of Appeal); an appellant referred back to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC in relation to his conviction for murder also in the 1970s.
She previously Chaired the Doughty Street Criminal Team Steering Group and is a member of Chambers management committee.
See below for further details of criminal appeals, extradition cases, homicides, financial and regulatory crime, terrorism and political crime and other serious cases in which she has appeared.
Beccy is regularly instructed in legally and factually complex criminal appeals in the Court of Appeal (including advice work on applications to the CCRC), the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
- R v Heibner
(ongoing) CCRC referral to Court of Appeal of conviction for murder in 1976. False confession and police corruption.
- R v Childs
(ongoing) Court of Appeal, appeal against convictions for 6 murders in the 1970s, described recently by the Crown in open court as one of the gravest cases in British forensic history. False confession and police malpractice.
- Al-Khawaja and Tahery v United Kingdom,
2011, Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, an appeal by the UK Government from the decision of the European Court (2009) 49 E.H.R.R. 1 that a conviction based upon sole or decisive hearsay evidence is incompatible with Article 6 of the ECHR (counsel for Tahery). Currently subject to a referral back to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC.
- R v Chaytor and Ors
[2011] 1 A.C. 684, Supreme Court; ambit of parliamentary privilege
- R v Jasmine Patel
[2011] EWHC 1443 (QB), reduction of minimum term for killing by wife of her husband in the context of domestic violence (application for eave to appeal against conviction ongoing).
- Horncastle v United Kingdom, instructed in the application to European Court of Human Rights following the decision of the Supreme Court
[2010] 2 A.C. 373 in which the Court declined to follow the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Al-Khawaja and Tahery
- G v UK,
European Court of Human Rights 30th August 2011 and House of Lords [2008] 1 WLR 1379, an appeal concerned with whether (i) the presumption of innocence enshrined in Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights is concerned with not only procedural but also substantive law and (ii) the prosecution / conviction of a child for consensual but underage sexual activity is in breach Article 8.
- R v Grant
[2006] QB 60, Court of Appeal: appeal against conviction for murder; abuse of process, police using covert listening devices to record solicitor/client conversations in breach of Article 6 and legal professional privilege
- Khan v The State
[2005] 1 AC 374, Privy Council, Trinidadian death row appeal against conviction for murder; challenge to constitutionality of doctrine of constructive malice
- R v Farnell
[2005] EWCA Crim 1021, Court of Appeal, appeal against conviction for murder; special status of defence of provocation and approach to be taken in fresh evidence provocation appeals.
- AG's Ref No 140 of 2004 (Dickinson)
[2004] EWCA Crim 3525, Court of Appeal, appeal by Attorney General of sentence passed for misconduct in a public office.
- R v James
[2004] All ER (D) 248, [2004] EWCA Crim 1433, Court of Appeal, CCRC referral, appeal against conviction for murder in 1986, breaches PACE/ reliability of admissions.
- Farnell v CCRC
[2003] EWHC 835, Times, June 2, 2003, Admin Court, first successful judicial review of decision of CCRC not to refer a case back to the Court of Appeal.
- Sealey v The State
[2002] UKPC 52, Privy Council, Trinidadian death row appeal against conviction for murder; failure of counsel to adduce evidence of good character.
- R v Lambert
[2002] 2 AC 545, House of Lords, compatibility of s.28 Misuse of Drugs Act with Article 6 (2) ECHR, retrospective effect of Human Rights Act in criminal proceedings.
Beccy has appeared in numerous homicide trials, including contract killing, gang related murder, drink / drug or mental illness related killing and often involving complex expert evidence.
- R v Samuel,
Central Criminal Court, due to be tried in 2013, young man charged with murder of partner
- R v Tonbul,
Central Criminal Court, 2013, allegation of murder of leading figure in north London Turkish crime gang.
- R v Walter,
Central Criminal Court, 2012, assisting an offender evade apprehension and prosecution for murder.
- R v King,
Central Criminal Court, 2011, alleged attempted double murder. Convicted of lesser offence.
- R v Riley,
Central Criminal Court 2011, joint enterprise murder of Godwin Lawson in Stamford Hill, London. Acquitted.
- R v Stabler,
Reading Crown Court 2011, representing UK heavyweight kickboxing champion (leading junior). Acquitted of conspiracy to murder and convicted of lesser offence.
- R v Ruby Thomas,
Central Criminal Court 2010, homophobic killing of man in Trafalgar Square, London. Expert evidence re causation.
- R v Dixon,
St Albans Crown Court 2010, attempted murder of rival north London gang member, identification. Acquitted.
- Through the Centre For Corporate Accountability,
2009, advising the family of a man killed in an accident at work as to legality of decision by CPS not to prosecute for manslaughter. CPS reversed decision not to prosecute.
- R v Roberts,
Central Criminal Court 2007, attempted murder of a police officer by shooting. Convicted of lesser offence.
- R v Tinker,
Southwark Crown Court 2006, Gross negligence manslaughter, death of climber on return from summit of Mount Everest; acted for leader of commercial expedition. Acquitted on application to dismiss.
- R v Catling,
Winchester Crown Court 2006, killing of partner whilst under the influence of the controversial anti-depressant Seroxat.
- R v Hamza,
Central Criminal Court 2006, soliciting the murder of four members of the Egyptian Government: undercover police officers posing as former SAS contract killers. Acquitted after retrial.
- R v Parchment,
Central Criminal Court 2006, gang related tit for tat shooting.
- R v Causley,
Exeter Crown Court 2004, killing of wife in 1980s.
- R v Donovan,
Central Criminal Court, drink related killing in Upper Street, Islington.
- R v Baker,
Central Criminal Court 2003, dug related street killing. Acquitted on half time submission.
- R v Henry,
Central Criminal Court 2003, gang related killing, diminished responsibility and provocation.
- R v Martin,
Central Criminal Court 2003, murder in the course of robbery, identification. Acquitted following investigations re DNA called for by defence.
- R v Jama,
Central Criminal Court 2002, killing by teenager of fried by stabling 64 times, Asperger’s syndrome, diminished responsibility and provocation, murder reduced to manslaughter on appeal.
- R v Ryjenko,
Central Criminal Court, to be tried in 2013, member of the European Bank for Development and Reconstruction charged with corruption
- R v Bello,
Croydon Crown Court, to be heard in 2013, £multi million confiscation proceedings following convictions for conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration.
- Representing Kazakstani national, SS, in the
Commercial Court. SS was subject to a disclosure order and an order for cross-examination in the context of a series of fraud claims against SS’s brother and others in which the JSB BTA Bank seek to recover some £5bn. Instructed to represent SS’s interests when being cross-examined. High Court 2012
- Advising an International Trade Association in relation to whether suspected fraudulent expenses claims amount to criminal offences and the potential liability of the company and its officers. 2012
- The ‘Dragons Den’ Fraud,
Blackfriars Crown Court, 2012
- R v Foster,
Central Criminal Court 2012, revenue share fraud
- R v Jim Devine, Southwark Crown Court 2011, representing former Member of Parliament charged with false accounting in relation to the claiming of parliamentary expenses.
- R v McFarnon and Ors, Kingston Crown Court 2011 (confiscation ongoing), £100million VAT contra-trading fraud. Acquitted of conspiracy to cheat, convicted of lesser offence.
- R v Iktilat & Ors, Woolwich Crown Court 2009, for the first defendant alleged to be the head of a £80 million money laundering operation
- R v Aboukhachab & Ors, Southwark Crown Court 2007, conspiracy to defraud, representing alleged organiser of multi-million pound fraud against banks and credit card companies
- R v Avery, Whitehead and Ors, Winchester Crown Court 2009 / 10, the largest and most complex ever animal rights protestor cases, multiple defendants charged with conspiracy to blackmail those trading with Huntingdon Life Sciences, representing two defendants, including the alleged leader of SHAC (sole counsel for Whitehead).
- R v Goodyear & Ors, Birmingham Crown Court 2008, for the second of six defendants in the first ever trial of an allegation of conspiracy to interfere with contractual relations with intent to harm an animal research organisation (leading junior). Acquitted.
- R v Joseph Harris [2007] 2 Cr App R (S) 37, Court of Appeal, the first appeal against sentence for the s.145 SOCPA offence of interfering with contractual relations (sole counsel). Sentence reduced.
Attorney General’s Reference (140 of 2004) (R v Dickinson) [2004] EWCA Crim 3525, Court of Appeal, appeal the by the Attorney General against sentence passed for breach of Data Protection Act and misconduct in a public office by employee of DVLA who disclosed to animal rights activists the home addresses of those involved in breeding animals for experimentation. Appeal successfully defended (sole counsel).
- Abid Naseer v USA,
High Court, 4th and 5th July 2012 (extradition sought by the USA in relation to an alleged Al Qaeda plot to cause explosions in central Manchester; Article 3 and conditions of detention under special administrative measures at a US Supermax prison).
- Hewitt and Woodward v Spain
[2009] All ER (D) 234, [2009] EWHC 2158 (Admin) (sufficiency of particulars of EAW; mental condition).
- R v Rose,
Central Criminal Court 2012, conspiracy to steal £1million worth of gold and silver bullion
- R v Mirembe,
Reading Crown Court 2010, armed robbery of G4S security cards refilling cash machine
- R v Iktilat & Ors,
Woolwich Crown Court 2009, for the first defendant, importation and distribution of multi kilo consignments cocaine
- R v Marsh & Ors,
Inner London Crown Court 2007, conspiracy to supply £5 million pounds worth of cocaine
- R v Charles,
Kingston Crown Court 2005, gold bullion / currency robbery at Heathrow Airport.
