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Stephen Vullo
Year of call: 1996
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Education
LLB(Hons) London Guildhall University.
Profile
Specialist Areas
All types of heavy criminal defence work including terrorism, murder/contract killings, historic child abuse cases, large scale drugs supply/importation, armed robbery and all forms of organised crime.
Courts Martial
Civil Actions against the Police
Human Rights
Extradition
Confiscation
The cross-examination of expert witnesses.
Road Traffic
Profile
Stephen Vullo has an exclusively criminal defence practice and has been instructed in many of the most high profile cases to be tried in the last few years as both a leading junior and junior counsel. Stephen Vullo is acknowledged to have a very high level competency in dealing with expert evidence relating to DNA profiling and in particular Low Copy Number profiling and the potential challenges to its admissibility/probative value. Other areas of expertise include mobile telephone/cell site evidence and medical evidence. When acting as a led junior he regularly deals with the cross examination and presentation of all of the expert evidence.
He has recently appeared in:
- R v Ian Griffin (Extradition) - Wanted by French authorities in connection with the murder of his girlfriend in a Paris hotel room.
- R v Bilal Abdulla - Glasgow bomber.
- R v Yassin Omar - The appeal against conviction in the Court of Appeal by Yassin Omar one of the men convicted of the 21st July London bombings;
- R v Robinson, where the defendant assisted Muzzaker Shah the murderer of PC Beshenivsky to flee to Wales where the pair were arrested after a 24 hour armed siege;
- The ‘Securitas Robbery’, the largest cash heist in history with £53m being stolen by an armed gang who had kidnapped the manager of the depot and his family;
- The ‘Royal Blackmail Case’ (R v McGuighan) as junior counsel being led by Ronald Thwaites QC;
- R v Aujila the case where an elderly taxi driver was killed by his own vehicle after the defendant assaulted him and then used the car to run the victim over and make good his escape.
- R v Lcp Cooley and others. He was leading junior defence counsel for Lance Corporal Cooley one of the British soldiers accused of torturing Iraqi prisoners during their detention at ‘Camp Bread Basket’ in Basra. The case was avidly followed by the world’s media for a number of weeks and was often referred to as Britain’s ‘Abu Ghraib’.
- Also as leading junior counsel the case of R v Pinto the ‘Angolan Witchcraft’ trial at the Old Bailey where a 10 year old girl was placed in a laundry bag and threatened with drowning by relatives who accused her of being possessed by ‘Ndoko’ and attempting to kill them with spirits!
Cases
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Terrorism
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R v Bilal Abdulla (Glasgow Bomber)
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
Led by James Sturman QC. The defendant was accused of planting the Tiger Tiger and Haymarket car bombs the day before breaching security at Glasgow Airport to ram his green Cherokee jeep into the front of Glasgow Airport in an attempt to detonate an improvised explosure device in the rear compartment of the vehicle.
Stephen Vullo conducted all cross-examination of the Crown's numerous explosives experts. The issue was whether the devices were capable of detonation. The defendant claimed they had been manufactured in such a way as to ensure they would not explode. The Crown's case was that only incompetance prevented the mass murder of hundreds of civilians in both London and Glasgow.
The defendant's assertion of intentional design was rejected but the Judge reduced the sentence he would normally have passed on the basis that he had accepted on hearing cross-examination that the devices were not capable of detonating.
Date: 2008
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R v Yassin Omar (21st July Bomber)
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
Led by Michael Wolkind QC in the 21st July bombers appeal before the Court of Appeal. Neither counsel had been instructed for trial. The appeal was heard over 2 days. Stephen Vullo identified that the Police, Crown and all involved in the trial had incorrectly proceeded on the basis that senior police officers had acted in accordance with the codes of practice when denying Omar, the Warren Street bomber, access to a solicitor to allow ‘emergency safety interviews to be conducted’. In rejecting the appeal the Court had to concede that there was a breach of the codes. The Court held that the subsequent use by the Crown of the comments made in those interviews even though made in the absence of a solicitor coupled with the police administering the incorrect (new style) caution did not render the conviction unsafe. This matter is now pending appeal in the ECJ.
Date: 2007
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Murder/Manslaughter
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R v Terry Sherman
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
The victim was lured to a country lane and shot by a masked gunman with a sten gun. He was in front of his wife and child.
The execution was ordered due to a drug related debt.
The defendant was one of four defendants and was said to be the getaway driver for his close friend Wayne Collins who was the gunman.
The defendant was acquitted after a 3 month trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The other 3 defendants were convicted and received life sentences with minimum terms of 33-30 years.
The trial involved a wealth of expert evidence from the usual DNA, fingerprints and cell site analysis to the more unusual of a use of a palynology expert (pollen and plant analysis).
Date: 2009
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R v Aujila
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
An 87 year old cab driver was violently assaulted and knocked to the ground by the defendant who then stole his taxi. The defendant did a three point turn and ran over the victim as he lay prone in the road. He later burnt out the car in an alley behind his house and claimed to have no memory of the incident due to alcohol. Stephen Vullo conducted the cross-examination of the experts giving evidence as to alcohol back calculation and the effects of alcohol on the ability to form intent and the memory.
Date: 2008
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R v Pearman
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
A bungled contract killing where the defendant was the driver of the vehicle in a drive by shooting. It was suspected that the victim, who was shot in front of his 6 year old daughter and two year old son outside his parents address, was in fact the brother of the intended target. The defendant attempted to burn out the vehicle used but the fire did not take hold and his DNA was found in the vehicle. This case featured on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme and the gunman remains at large.
Date: 2007
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R v Robinson
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Appeared for Defence
Two days after the shooting of PC Beshenivsky in Bradford her murderer Muzzaker Shah left a council estate in South London where he had been in hiding to travel to Wales. He was assisted by the defendant who with another drove him to Wales. The defendant then rented a flat and stayed with Shah for nearly two weeks before the Police laid siege to the flat. After nearly 24 hours the defendant convinced Shah to surrender. A great deal of the Crown’s case relied upon cell site evidence.
Date: 2007
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R v O'Flynn
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
This involved the contract killing of a well known member of the criminal underworld. It was suspected that this was the latest murder connected to the ongoing disputes and fallout from the Brinks Mat gold bullion case. The case rested almost entirely on cell site evidence and the defendant’s DNA found on a cigarette butt at the scene.
Date: 2007
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R v Pinto & Ors
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Appeared for Defence
Appeared as leading junior in a conspiracy to murder. This was the high profile ‘Angolan Witchcraft’ case tried at the Old Bailey where the defendants were accused of torturing and then placing an eight year old girl in a bag and threatening to drown her in a river. This was investigated by the police unit set up after the ‘Torso in the Thames case’ and has been the subject of a number of television documentaries.
Date: 2006
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R v Onyett
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
An alcoholic 17-year-old boy stabbed his father to death on Christmas Day.
Date: 2005
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R v Woolley & Ors
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
A multi-handed revenge attack that led to a stabbing outside a nightclub. The defendant was extradited from Canada to face trial. Led by Michael Wolkind QC.
Date: 2004
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R v Dafonte
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
A 'shaken baby' case. Represented the father in a trial where the mother gave evidence for the Crown.
Date: 2003
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Drugs
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R v Ahmed
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Appeared for Defence
Appeared as leading junior (leading Laura Thomas).
Charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession of firearms. The defendant was acquitted after a 9 week trial.
Date: 2006
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R v Adderson and ors
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
Importation of 1 ton of cannabis resin inside specially constructed carpet hides - the defendants claimed to have been duped believing that the load was to be tobacco. First tried in 2002 when all of the defendants were convicted. A re-trial was ordered by the Court of Appeal. After a number of delays due top PII applications being made by the Crown, the second trial (Stephen Vullo first instrcuted) was heard in January 2006 which was aborted due to allegations of jury tampering. At the third trial in September 2006 the prosecution had to make admissions before the jury that the man named in defence statements served in the first trial had been convicted of drug smuggling on two separate occasions and had in the past duped others into doing so. Furthermore, he had ordered the murder of a co-defendant before their joint trial, who in his defence statement had claimed also to have been duped. All the defendants were acquitted.
Date: 2006
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Miscellaneous Crime
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R v Bucpapa
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
£53m armed robbery and kidnapping. A seven month trial at the Old Bailey representing one of the armed gang said to have kidnapped the manager of the Securitas Depot in Kent, his wife and 8 year old child. Members of the gang wearing prosthetic disguises and dressed as policemen stopped the manager on his way home from work and took him to a farm where his wife and child were being held having been kidnapped from their home again by members of the gang dressed as policemen. Stephen Vullo conducted all of the very substantial cross-examination in respect of cell site analysis. The Crown’s expert gave evidence for over 2 weeks. He also dealt with all the cross-examination of the forensic scientist on the issue of LCN DNA profiling.
Date: 2007
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R v Hoxhosmani
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Appeared for Defence
An allegation of kidnap for ransom committed over a 3-day period by a gang of human traffickers attempting to collect an alleged debt owed to them by the owner of a massage parlour.
Date: 2006
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R v Campbell
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Appeared for Defence
S.18 accusation - represented Sol Campbell’s brother accused of seriously assaulting the complainant following homophobic comments made about Sol Campbell at a football training ground.
Date: 2005
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R v Lance Corporal Cooley & Ors
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Appeared for Defence
Appeared as leading junior.
This case was relentlessly reported by the media all over the world and is still the subject of both press and television commentary. It involved allegations of abuse of Iraqi looters in ‘Camp Bread Basket’, Basra, Southern Iraq by soldiers of the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers. The ‘abuse’ was photographed and included images of Iraqi’s being suspended from a fork lift truck and being forced to strip and simulate sexual acts.
Date: 2005
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R v Linden
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Appeared for Defence
Represented a man accused of seriously sexually/physically assaulting another male on a train.
Date: 2003
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R v Moore
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Appeared for Defence
A 16-year-old girl accused of abducting a baby for 2 days following a phantom pregnancy.
Date: 2003
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R v Hyde
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Appeared for Defence
An accusation of false imprisonment, assault and robbery of 2 transsexual prostitutes who the defence alleged had stolen an MP’s briefcase.
Date: 2003
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R v Thomas & Ors
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
Represented a 17 year old girl charged with 5 other juveniles accused of false imprisonment, sexual assault and physical assaults. The defendants imprisoned a 16-year-old boy and tortured him over a 2-day period. Led by Timothy Kendal.
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Extradition
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R v (X)
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Appeared for Defence
Advised in writing as to the international powers of arrest, extradition and the nature and scope of co-operation between the United Kingdom, Interpol, The United States and The Kingdom of Dubai in terms of alleged criminal offences committed in the United States.
Date: 2010
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R v Griffin
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Appeared for Defence
Wanted by French authorities in connection with the murder of his girlfriend in a Paris hotel room.
Court: City of London Magistrates
Date: 2009
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R v (F.C)
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Appeared for Defence
The requested person was wanted by the Italian and United States authorities in respect of a massive prepaid phone card fraud. He was said to be the Mafia’s banker in Europe with over €30 running through his bank account each month.
Court: City of London Magistrates
Date: 2009
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Sexual Offences
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R v McConville
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
Represented a Catholic Priest accused of child abuse dating back to the 1970’s when he worked in a childrens home run by the Catholic Society.
Date: 2004
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R v X
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Appeared for Defence
Represented an Olympic Judo coach, accused of sexually assaulting young men that he trained.
Date: 2003
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R v (X)
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
Represented a local councillor/juvenile magistrate against allegations of serious child abuse in the 1980’s when he ran a large childrens home in the East End.
Date: 2002
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Blackmail
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R v McGuighan
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Appeared for Defence
(Junior Counsel )
The defendant with a ‘Walter Mitty’ character as an accomplice attempted to blackmail a prominent member of the Royal Family armed with covertly recorded video tapes of a royal aide during drug and drink fuelled parties claiming amongst other things to have had oral sex with the royal concerned. This case involved very complex issues of privacy and protection for the victim. It led to unique orders being made for parts of the trial to be heard in camera with the public and press galleries closed save for a small number of vetted members of the media.
Date: 2008
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