Monthly Archives May 2012

MPR Solicitors have instructions from 2 new corporate clients including a well-known fast-food chain. MPR Solicitors are specialists in Criminal defence and Business Crime and have established themselves across London and the UK.

MPR Solicitors can offer a bespoke Partner-led solution to businesses in the areas of business crime, financial crime, civil fraud, asset recovery, VAT and Tax investigations, anti-corruption legislation, employment issues, and business law. We can offer bespoke legal advice packages to our corporate clients.

We can advise and assist you on your case from our Head Office in Hounslow, Hammersmith office or at our base in the City of London. Our London  Solicitors can also visit you at your offices or whererever you are based in the UK or internationally.

For more information please email seema@mprsolicitors.co.uk or call us on 020 8607 4660 to see what we can do for you.

MPR solicitors have been instructed to defend a large scale conspiracy to steal case at Aylesbury Crown Court this week. The case will be defended by a specialist criminal lawyer from the MPR complex crime team.

At MPR Solicitors, we specialise in the defence of complex and serious crime. Our solicitors and advocates have many years of experience defending in large-scale conspiracy cases involving SO19, the Serious Crime Directorates, SOCA (Serious and Organised Crime Agency), Operation Trident, Special Projects Units and Flying Squad.

We can advise and assist you on your case from our Head Office in Hounslow, Hammersmith office or at our base in the City of London. Our London Criminal Solicitors can also visit you at your offices or whererever you are based.

Please email our specialist criminal defence solicitors on law@mprsolicitors.co.uk or call us on 020 8607 4660 for free 24 hour police station advice call us on our 24 hour arrest line 020 86074660

We recently secured bail for a defendant charged with supplying class A and B drugs to undercover police officers in a large-scale drugs conspiracy in the Crown Court in the South East of England. Other defendants not represented by MPR Solicitors remain in custody. The trial will take place later in the year.

In another recent case, MPR Solicitors secured bail for a Colombian national charged with possession with intent to supply Class A drugs valued at £100,000. Our client made contact with us whilst in custody on remand as her previous solicitors had done nothing to secure bail advising her that she was unlikely to get bail. She transferred her representation to MPR Solicitors, following which we were able to put a successful bail package together and secured bail within 7 days of being instructed.

The question of bail is always an emotional issue as a person’s liberty is at stake. This is more so in cases where serious charges are alleged and the Prosecution object to the granting of bail. Whilst we cannot guarantee bail in each and every case, we have the expertise and the know-how to effectively put a bail package together and to make one at the right time tactically in the course of court proceedings to have maximum chances of success. There are limited opportunities for making a bail application and for that reason it is not wise to make an unprepared bail application as the chances of success are slim and an opportunity is wasted. We have a proven track record for securing bail in some of the most difficult and serious cases. Our success rate is based on meticulous case preparation, drafting and advocacy skills. We endeavour to make contact with all relevant parties who may be able to assist in the making of a bail application and work against the clock to secure our clients’ liberty.

Simple guide to making a bail application:

• In order to make a bail application, the defence must first give a minimum of 24 hours written notice to both the Court where the application will be made and to the CPS of their intention to make a bail application. The written notice must contain the previously raised objections to bail, the grounds upon which the bail application is made and details of any proposed sureties and securities (Bail bonds). This may sound relatively simple but the art in making a successful bail application does lie in the drafting skills and the analytical skills of the defence lawyer. Decisions by the Court in relation to granting bail in most bail applications are usually made on the papers that are presented to the Court. The advocate is present at court to orally make the application and to counter any arguments or opposition that the CPS may have and to answer any questions the Court may have.
• If a poorly drafted notice of bail is lodged then it will not have the desired effect. The key to maximising success rates of bail is to draft a detailed notice of bail and to call oral evidence at the bail application.
• Defendants in custody are not normally produced at a bail application so they do not get to hear the application made by their defence lawyers. Bail applications are usually made before a Judge in Chambers but can also be made in open court at a directions hearing for example when a client will be present in court.
• At MPR Solicitors, we feel it is important that our clients are fully aware of the detailed bail applications that are lodged on their behalf by our solicitors and to this end copies of the notice relating to bail are made available to our clients.
• We also like to make personal contact with all sureties and family members. We will take the time and make the effort to explain the bail process and what the responsibilities of a surety are.
• We guide our clients and their families through the bail process and like to think we offer an expeditious, caring and effective service to maximise the chances of a successful bail application.

Some of the most common bail conditions that can be offered to the Court are as follows:

• Residence
• Reporting to a local police station
• Not entering a specific geographical area
• Curfew during specific hours (can also be subject to electronic monitoring: an electronic tag)
• Non contact with co-defendants
• Not to contact directly or non-directly the alleged victims in a case
• Paying in a security to the court
• Standing as a surety

We can advise and assist you on your case from our Head Office in Hounslow, Hammersmith office or at our base in the City of London. Our London Criminal Solicitors can also visit you at your offices or whererever you are based.

For further information call our criminal solicitors on 020 8607 4660 or email on law@mprsolicitors.co.uk or for 24 hours police station advice call our 24hr number 020 8607 4660 to speak to a solicitor

Another success for the MPR defence team with the acquittal of our client on charges of Grievous Bodily Harm with intent.

Our client is alleged to have stabbed the victim in a frenzied attack during an argument over a girl. Our client maintained a not guilty plea and it became evident to our solicitors that the case was not quite what it appeared at first glance.

After considering our client’s version of events and the forensic evidence and eyewitness evidence, we were able to establish major evidential problems in the Crown’s case. It also came to light via pro-active defence work that one of the eyewitnesses had subsequently been a victim at the hands of the alleged victim in this case. We immediately alerted the police officer in the case to make relevant enquiries as this could potentially have assisted our client’s case and undermined the Prosecution’s case. We were able to discredit the evidence of the main eyewitness as it was becoming more obvious that she was hiding the truth.

Prior to our client’s trial, we also made very detailed written representations to the CPS requesting them to reconsider their views in this case as we felt it was not in the public interest to continue with the Prosecution. They disregarded our representations and even the police officer in the case and the Court were taken aback by the prosecutor’s stance in this case. In the end, following 3 days of evidence at trial, a jury acquitted our client within just a few hours of being told by the trial judge to deliberate.

Our client was awarded a defence costs order and all his legal aid contributions will now be refunded by the Legal Services Commission. In additional we were able to secure the refund of all his travel expenses in going to court over the course of his proceedings.

We can advise and assist you on your case from our Head Office in Hounslow, Hammersmith office or at our base in the City of London. Our London Criminal Defence Solicitors can also visit you at your offices or whererever you are based.

Call our specialist criminal defence solicitors to see if we can help you 0n 020 8607 4660 or email law@mprsolicitors.co.uk

Our client was charged with conspiracy to money launder large amounts of cash with another. The case involved a complex paper trail consisting of thousands of pages of evidence.

MPR Solicitors had represented this client at the start from the police station investigation stage up to the case being transferred to Southwark Crown Court. We believed that the case against our client was weak and made repeated representations to the Crown Prosecution Service that there was no case to answer. The case was then listed at our request for an application to dismiss at the Crown Court and at the eleventh hour, the CPS finally caved in and discontinued the case against our client only.

At MPR Solicitors, we pride ourselves in giving our clients a personalised and effective Partner-led solutions.

In this particular case, the defence team was headed by Abdullah Al-Yunusi, a Partner and senior barrister at the Firm.

We can advise and assist you on your case from our Head Office in Hounslow, Hammersmith office or at our base in the City of London. Our London Fraud Solicitors can also visit you at your offices or whererever you are based.

For more information about money laundering investigations and defending prosecutions by the CPS Special Casework Directorate, please contact our fraud and money laundering solicitors on 020 8607 4660 and ask for our Serious and Complex Crime Team or email us in confidence at law@mprsolicitors.co.uk