LLB (Hons.), University of Dundee; BVC, Inns of Court School of Law; Harmsworth Scholar, Middle Temple.

Tony Wyatt joined 2 Bedford Row in September 2003 and practises primarily in the field of criminal defence. In addition, since joining Chambers he has developed a further specialisation in the field of Sports Law.

General Crime

Tony has been instructed alone, to lead and as a led junior in a wide range of serious criminal matters, including murder, manslaughter, drug trafficking, serious assaults, kidnap, robbery and fraud. He has also appeared for the defence in relation to all other criminal matters, ranging from offences of dishonesty to offences against the person, and from sexual offences to public order offences.

Over time Tony has developed two fields of particular specialisation within criminal law, these being offences of violence – up to and including murder – and offences of fraud/money laundering. The latter is an area of practice that has led him to further develop a much sought-after expertise in the related fields of confiscation, restraint and asset forfeiture. Regularly instructed to defend in major multi-handed money laundering, deception and fraud prosecutions across the jurisdiction, he has appeared in many of the leading cases in this increasingly important area of law. In addition, Tony has a particular interest in cell-site and telephone evidence, and has successfully challenged the same in a number of serious and high-profile contested matters.

Judicial Review

Away from ‘substantive criminal proceedings’, Tony is also frequently instructed in complicated matters brought before the Administrative Court for the purposes of Judicial Review.  Most often acting on behalf of the interested parties in cases arising from the decision of the Crown Court – in cases in which he may or may not have been the instructed advocate at first instance – he has built up an enviable reputation, including acting for the interested party in The Department of Work and Pensions v The Crown Court Sitting at Croydon, ex parte Wendy Stubbs, in which he successfully resisted an application to quash the earlier decision of the Croydon Crown Court that to pursue confiscation proceedings in the Defendant’s case was so unfair that it amounted to an abuse of process (the first case of its type to be stayed as an abuse on the grounds of ‘unfairness’).

Regulatory Law

General crime aside, Tony is experienced in defending both individuals and corporations alleged to have committed regulatory offences. Amongst other areas in this wide-ranging field he has defended in matters relating to ‘Health and Safety’ – ranging from bare infringements of Health and Safety Regulations to those serious enough to lead to very serious injury and even death – and to alleged trading standards offences, as well as those prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.

Sports Law

In the field of Sports Law, Tony has appeared before a number of professional bodies in relation to a wide variety of sports-related matters. Initially instructed in relation to those ‘on-field’ disciplinary matters that bear a similarity to his criminal practice, he has often appeared on behalf of cited players before various disciplinary committees (most regularly the Rugby Football Union). This initial area of specialisation has widened over time and now covers many other aspects of Sports Law – ranging from contractual disputes to allegations of ‘doping’ – and has included matters as diverse as appearing before the British Boxing Board of Control in a contested application to release a professional boxer from his management contract (a case in which the entire legal basis of the joint manager/promoter role was challenged) to allegations of statutory rape against the coach of an Under-16’s Rugby Union team. In particular, Tony is much sought after in respect of those sporting matters likely to lead to subsequent criminal proceedings.

General and Upcoming

Tony frequently works outside of London and the South East, being regularly instructed to defend in all parts of both England and Wales. Upcoming cases involve acting alone in a high-profile allegation of joint-enterprise murder in Bristol Crown Court; acting alone for the first defendant in an attempted murder trial in which serious injury was caused to a mother and three of her children – one of them aged just 18 months – in her own home; acting alone in a multi-handed SOCA prosecution arising from an allegation of conspiracy to import and to supply industrial quantities of amphetamines; acting as junior counsel in respect of an alleged conspiracy to kidnap a notorious fraudster upon his return from exile in South America; and acting as junior counsel for the sole defendant in what promises to be an extremely high-profile murder case in Oxford Crown Court.

Away from the law, Tony’s interests are in reading almost anything he can lay his hands on, writing fiction and film. He has also been a keen sportsman throughout his life, having boxed competitively at an international level and having played for a number of first class Rugby Union teams. With those days sadly behind him his involvement is now reduced to that of a vocal spectator, save for the few occasions a year that he finds himself back on the pitch and complaining bitterly when he is expected to run.

Cases