Profile: James graduated from University College, Durham, in 1985 with a BA in law. He was called in 1986 and began his career in general criminal law; this led to him prosecuting major criminal trials involving OCGs and others. One such case led to him becoming invited, in 1999, to appear for the (then) Central Confiscation Branch of the Crown Prosecution Service. Since then James has specialised in confiscation / cash law. He is now a recognised expert in the field and appears regularly, for the Crown, in all relevant Courts;
- Magistrates Courts for cash seizures / enforcement of confiscation orders
- Crown Courts for confiscation hearings post trial and/or revisiting under s16 Drug Trafficking Act 1994 or, more recently, applications under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 covering all aspects of confiscation law from pre-charge restraint orders to final re-visiting
- Administrative Court for Drug Trafficking Act or Criminal Justice Act 1988 restraint / receivership proceedings as well as judicial reviews of the lower Courts
- Family / Chancery / Bankruptcy Courts for ancillary matters
- Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) for cases that require specialist knowledge of confiscation law
- Court of Appeal (Civil Division) on matters arising from Judicial Review and High Court Proceedings
James has in excess of 50 reported cases in the field of confiscation and is regularly instructed by:-
- The Crown Prosecution Service
- Foreign Governments (via the CPS)
- HM Revenue & Customs
- The Department for Work & Pensions
- The Serious Organised Crime Agency
- The Serious Fraud Office
- Local Authorities
- The Revenue & Customs Prosecutions Office (as was)
In addition he has provided in-house training for the CPS.
He is a member of the Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association and a contributor to the Journal of that organisation.
In his spare time James enjoys caving, mountain biking, gardening, music and messing about with computers. He particularly enjoys travelling and has visited, amongst other places, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Jersey, Kenya, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Thailand, USA, Vietnam and Zanzibar.
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