Overview
Charles Garside was called to the Bar in 1971 and took Silk in 1993. He is a member of the Northern Circuit and became a Recorder in 1994.
As a junior his practice concentrated on criminal, common law and employment work combined with public law cases when instructed by Local Authorities. He was instructed in leading cases concerned with jury vetting (R v Mason), trade union rights (Messenger Newspaper Group v NGA) and the ‘poll tax’ (Evans v South Ribble Borough Council) when he advised on the legal aspects of the scheme used by Manchester City Council to collect money owed. He has conducted many heavy criminal cases up to and including murders without a leader. In addition he has also been instructed in trading standards cases for local authorities and acted for other public bodies in criminal cases.
Since taking silk he has mainly been engaged in criminal work while retaining an active practice in the employment and common law fields. He has been instructed in major trials including gang related murders with a particular emphasis on mortgage frauds. He has defended in major drugs cases including Customs and Excise v Kassar and others at Newcastle Crown Court where he represented the lead defendant in what was at the time the largest importation case prosecuted by HM Customs and Excise. He has been involved in many other complicated and sensitive matters including the defence of a Solicitor for commercial drug dealing.
Charles has lectured on various themes including Human Rights.
Employment
As junior counsel Charles practised in Industrial Tribunals and in the civil courts. He has appeared on many occasions in cases involving unfair and wrongful dismissal and allegations of discrimination. He has also had extensive experience in cases involving restraint of trade and restrictive covenants and industrial disputes, including Messenger Group Newspapers Limited v NGA.
Since taking Silk he has continued to practise in these areas and has also become involved in criminal cases involving commercial fraud and other criminal misconduct by employees.
Personal Injury
Charles Garside retains an expertise in personal injury litigation within a busy common law practice.
Before taking Silk in 1993 he appeared regularly in all types of personal injury litigation especially injuries arising out of substantial road traffic accidents. He has advised on all issues arising out of road traffic injuries including those resulting in spinal disability, psychiatric injury and brain damage. A major part of his practice has always included acting for Trades Union backed clients and he has great experience in pleading and advising in the field of factory accidents.
Since taking Silk, he has retained a personal injury practice and his cases include clinical negligence actions and other actions against professionals, including solicitors. His practice has always included a high profile client base and of particular note he has represented national television companies and newspaper groups in major High Court actions.
More generally, he lectures to the Greater Manchester Police force on the relationship between the Bar and the Police. Acting on behalf of local authorities he played a major part in shaping the law on the poll tax legislation and on Sunday Trading issues. He has experience in Public Law, in particular Judicial Review applications.
Charles is prepared to undertake work on a Conditional Fee basis and welcomes early consultation with his solicitor clients in such cases.
Criminal
Since his call to the bar in 1971, Charles has conducted criminal cases of all kinds, both for the prosecution and the defence. In addition he has been involved in proceedings in the Divisional and other appellate Courts relating to anti-social behaviour orders and other quasi criminal matters.
In recent times he has dealt with cases involving the importation and distribution of large quantities of Class A drugs, serious organised criminal gangs alleged to have committed murder and other crimes including people trafficking, gang rape, mortgage and other fraud, money laundering and allegations against medical practitioners as well as less complicated cases involving serious criminal allegations.
He is experienced in conducting cases involving the electronic presentation of evidence and has devised schemes for the clear presentation of evidence in tabular form and for the presentation and examination of individual documents which were part of a large number, on screen.
He has prosecuted and defended in cases involving probe evidence and other evidence derived from techniques governed by the provisions of RIPA. He has also prosecuted a case in which the evidence included telephone intercepts from Germany.
He as experience in cases involving breaches of health and safety legislation and intellectual property rights and has regularly appeared in applications for judicial review, other prerogative remedies and appeals by way of case stated, particularly involving human rights.
Mr Garside lectures regularly on topics connected with the criminal law, in particular corporate manslaughter and human rights law.
Notable cases
- R v Onobrackpeya (The prosecution of a solicitor for a £5m. Fraud.)
- R v Charlton (The defence of a gas fitter charged with gross negligence manslaughter)
- R v C (The defence of a ten year old boy in connection with events in Edlington, South Yorkshire)
- R v Phillipou (The defence of the organiser of a fraud in relation to sales of holidays. There were countless victims, over 20,000 pages of exhibits and complex international financial transactions to deal with.)
- R v Ulcay and ors. (The prosecution of a gang of people smugglers. This case involved probe and surveillance evidence as well as evidence of telephone intercepts from Germany. It is also the leading Court of Appeal authority on the subject of the duty of counsel taking over a case at short notice and part way through.)
- R v Glaves and ors. (The prosecution of a fraud involving the presentation of evidence of the analysis of over 1,200 tachograph discs. He helped devise a system of doing this on screen in a way that enabled both the witness and me to move a cursor to relevant parts of each disc.)
- R v O’Connor (The defence of a man accused with several others of gang rape)
- R v Knaggs and ors. (The prosecution of a large gang of drug dealers involving probe evidence and sensitive disclosure issues.)
- R v Kenworthy (The defence of a retired psychologist charged with historic indecent assaults on his patients)
- R v Allahverdyan and ors. (The prosecution of a lage gang of Russian and Armenian men for rape, kidnap and other offences)
Regulatory and Professional Discipline
For many years, Charles has been regularly instructed by the GMC to appear in Fitness to Practice and other proceedings before Tribunals of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
These cases have involved a wide spectrum of allegations including sexual, dishonest and clinical misconduct as well as health and performance cases.
He has also appeared before the NMC.
Appointments
King’s Counsel (1993)
Recorder (1994)
Associations
Criminal Bar Association
Prescribed Information
Mr. Charles Garside is a practising barrister, who is regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Details of information held by the BSB about Mr. Garside can be found here.
Mr. Garside’s clerks will happily provide no obligation quotations for all legal services that he provides. Their contact details can be found here. It is most common for Mr, Garside to undertake any Court or Tribunal work for a fixed fee or a brief fee plus additional refresher days. For advisory work, including paperwork and conferences it is most commonly charged at an hourly rate although fixed fees are available. Mr. Garside also accepts instructions on legal aid rates where those are available, details of which can be found here. Mr. Garside will typically return paperwork within 14 days, however professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect these approximate timescales.
