Double murder victory by Sinead Zaman of Powell Spencer and Ali Bajwa QC of Garden Court Chambers.
Sinead Zaman, Ali Naseem Bajwa QC, leading Eva Niculiu of Three Raymond Buildings, represented BR at the relevant time an 18-year old boy, in a three-defendant double murder trial at the Old Bailey.
The case concerned a dispute between two drug dealers, B and P Shortly after 20:00 on 19 December 2019, B drove his van into Courtland Avenue in Barnet, where P and an associate F were waiting for him. B had with him four people: K in the front passenger seat and three 18-year-olds (including BR) in the back.
Within 3 or 4 minutes of B’s van arriving in Courtland Avenue, F and P were dead; F had been stabbed 14 times and P 28 times. F body was bundled into the boot of P’s vehicle and driven away by T. Very shortly thereafter, P’s body was bundled into the van and driven away by B and the three 18-year-olds.
T was forced to stop his car in order to seek medical help for a serious wound to his arm, whereupon the police discovered F’s body in the boot. Meanwhile, the occupants of the van dumped Paja’s body in undergrowth beside a country lane, where a jogger found it the next day. BR’ DNA was recovered from a cable tie binding P’s wrists and BR’s baseball cap heavily stained with P’s blood was found close to the body.
The Crown’s case was that B, T, and BR had planned and committed the murders together acting as a team. B and T blamed BR and the other two 18-year-olds. The case advanced on behalf of BR was that B and T alone had committed the murders.
BR case involved the careful analysis and reconstruction of events using the circumstantial evidence, including that of eyewitnesses, DNA, pathology, CCTV/ANPR cameras, and mobile phone usage/movement.
After an eight-week trial and a day of deliberations, the jury unanimously convicted T and B of both murders and acquitted BR of all charges.
The case was reported by the Times and the BBC.
