Laurence Harris

Notable Crime cases

R v B [2022] Inner London Crown Court

Secured a suspended sentence for a 19-year-old caught with 18 wraps of heroin, 17 wraps of cocaine, cannabis, £2000 cash and a machete on his person. The Judge treated B as ‘lesser role’ after extensive mitigation.

R v M [2022] Central Criminal Court

Negotiated a restorative resolution on the day of trial, leading to the Crown offering no evidence on two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.

R v R [2022] Reading Magistrates’ Court

Successful submission of no case to answer in relation to an allegation of using threatening behaviour with intent to cause harassment, made after the complainant accepted in cross-examination that the Defendant did not have the requisite mental state.

R v B [2022] Bexley Youth Court

Represented a young man charged with racially aggravated assault on an emergency worker, successfully making a submission of no case to answer by arguing that the conduct alleged did not lawfully amount to battery.

R v V [2022] Uxbridge Magistrates Court

Acquittal secured after a three-day trial of a young man accused of assaulting a nightclub bouncer, V having denied that an assault took place.

R v A [2022] Croydon Magistrates Court

A acquitted of three counts of assaulting an emergency worker, the bench accepting the argument that A did not have the relevant state of mind due to his having a psychiatric episode.

R v H [2022] Portsmouth Crown Court

Secured a Community Order for H, who had pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing indecent images of children, including 200 Category A images.

R v H [2022] Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court

H acquitted of possession of a bladed article, successfully advancing the defence of reasonable excuse.

R v A [2022] Croydon Magistrates’ Court

A acquitted of theft from a motor vehicle and criminal damage, running the defence of mistaken identification.

R v K [2022] Croydon Magistrates’ Court

K acquitted of theft of a bicycle, successfully arguing that K believed the bike to have been discarded.

R v M [2022] Bexley Magistrates’ Court

M acquitted of using threatening behaviour with intent to cause fear of violence, relying on self-defence.

R v M [2022] St Albans Magistrates’

Successful in Newton Hearing on the question of whether a dog that bit a hospice worker (such that she required a skin graft) had been intentionally let off the leash.

R v M [2022] St Albans Magistrates’ Court

Acquitted of failing to be in control of a dog causing injury, successfully arguing that the Defendant’s mother was a fit and proper person to look after the dog.

R v B [2022] Reading Crown Court

Successful in preventing the activation of a suspended sentence in committal for breach hearing at which the probation service actively recommended activation.

R v H [2022] City of London Magistrates’ Court

Secured an adjournment in lieu of a warrant of committal at an enforcement hearing, where the client had over £1.5 million to pay on his confiscation order.

R v P [2022] Guildford Crown Court

Secured a suspended sentence for driver convicted of driving dangerously three times over the relevant speed limit, failing to provide a specimen, and failing to stop after the subsequent accident. P also had multiple recent convictions for drink driving offences.

R v F [2022] Staines Magistrates’ Court

F acquitted of being drunk in charge of a vehicle after successfully arguing that there was no likelihood that F would have driven the vehicle whilst over the limit.

R v B [2022] Stevenage Magistrates’ Court

Acquitted of careless driving, failure to stop, and failure to report an accident, B having denied there having been an accident.