Colin Aylott KC secures another acquittal in the latest of a series of fraud trials concerning MOD contracts for the disposal of ammunition and pyrotechnics. 

This was the fourth set of proceedings in which Colin was instructed arising out of a week-long raid and search by MOD Police in 2017 at the former RAF Faldingworth site.

His client, the former General Manager of a specialist manufacturer and supplier of pyrotechnics to the armed forces and police was charged with fraud alongside the company and a company director. The alleged fraud related to contracts for the destruction of air-to-air missile decoy flares. The case involved complex legal issues including the applicability of the Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005/1082 “MSER”.  In addition, the defence pursued a series of disclosure applications focused on the contractual relationships between various companies involved in MOD contracts and the MOD’s procedures for the destruction of explosives. A week into the trial the Crown offered no evidence after the disclosure of a document held by the MOD Police for five years that exonerated the defendants.

With this latest verdict Colin secured his fourth acquittal in this series of linked trials following not guilty verdicts for another defendant at trials in 2021 and 2022. In those proceedings the offences included fraud and alleged breaches of the Firearms Act 1968 including possession of section 5 prohibited weapons.

In the 2023 proceedings Colin was instructed by Andrew Broome of VHS Solicitors.

In the 2021 and 2022 proceedings Colin was instructed by Aziz Rahman and Nicola Sharp of Rahman Ravelli Solicitors.