Phil Barnes KC acts for the defence in Manchester Crown Court homicide trial

Phil Barnes KC, of Nine Chambers, recently acted as leading counsel for the defence in R v David Jack at Manchester Crown Court, before HHJ Conrad KC.

The defendant faced charges of murder and manslaughter arising from the death of a friend during a drunken altercation. The case turned on two points of real difficulty. The prosecution relied on the defendant’s previous conviction for manslaughter as bad character evidence, which significantly strengthened its case. At sentence, the question arose of how far a previous manslaughter conviction — as opposed to one for murder — aggravates the sentence, and whether it could elevate the starting point to a 30-year minimum term, engaging the Court of Appeal’s reasoning in Khaleel [2012] EWCA Crim 2035.

Phil was instructed by Steve Sullivan of Kemps Solicitors and led Mark Fireman, in-house counsel at Kemps. He continues to accept instructions to defend in homicide cases.