Charlotte Brewer

Appeals

Charlotte is experienced in appellate work, having appeared to represent Appellants before the Court of Appeal and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

She recently represented an individual who was convicted of murder in Jamaica, who sought advice as to whether he could appeal against his conviction to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council [JCPC].

Charlotte provided positive advice to her client and successfully obtained permission from the JCPC to appeal against both conviction and sentence. That appeal was heard on 24th October 2016, when Charlotte appeared before the Board, led by Christine Agnew QC.

The prosecution conceded the point taken in relation to the Appellant’s sentence and Christine Agnew QC and Charlotte successfully argued that the case should be referred back to the Jamaican Court of Appeal which had previously dismissed their client’s appeal against his conviction. The full judgment of the Board can be found here.

In addition to appearing before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal, Charlotte has also appeared on behalf of both the prosecution and defence in a number of appeals against conviction and sentence from the Magistrates’ Court to the Crown Court.

Cases:

• R v McLeod [2017] UKPC 1
• R v T – Instructed to represent T who was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment for a ‘second-strike’ bladed article offence. Charlotte successfully persuaded the Court to depart from the mandatory minimum sentence and T’s sentence of immediate imprisonment was substituted for a suspended sentence order.

Confiscation

Charlotte accepts instructions in a wide variety of Proceeds of Crime Act matters. She is experienced in acting for individuals at the pre-charge restraint stage through to confiscation order enforcement proceedings. She has also acted in civil contempt proceedings arising from alleged breaches of a restraint order.

In addition to confiscation proceedings, Charlotte also has experience of contested forfeiture hearings in the Magistrates’ Court and assisting with a forfeiture appeal to the Crown Court.

Defence

Charlotte regularly appears in the Crown Court defending individuals charged with a wide range of criminal offences including drugs supply, burglary, possession of weapons and violent offences.

In the Magistrates’ Court, Charlotte has a particular expertise in road traffic matters and frequently represents individuals charged with drug or alcohol related driving offences, failing to furnish driver details and those seeking to advance exceptional hardship arguments.

As well as defending individuals, Charlotte also has experience of assisting a multi-national company which was being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority for suspected breaches of competition law in the European Union and potential criminal cartel offences.

Cases

• R v K (2016): Instructed to represent K, who stood trial before the Central Criminal Court in respect of an allegation of possessing a controlled drug with intent to supply. K was acquitted.
• R v R (2016): Represented R, who had pleaded guilty to breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order. Charlotte persuaded the Judge to impose a suspended sentence order, despite the fact that this was her client’s eighteenth breach of a Court order. The Judge commented that it was remarkable to observe her persistence and noted that she came back with an argument every time she was challenged, when many other barristers would have desisted.
• R v B (2016): Defending B, who was alleged to have handled stolen goods valued at many thousands of pounds after the police uncovered what the Crown described as ‘an Aladdin’s cave of stolen goods’. The case against B was dismissed at half time.
• FCA v N (2015): Instructed to represent N in contempt of court proceedings before the Southwark Crown Court. It was alleged by the FCA that N had breached his Restraint Order by failing to disclose assets, by opening and operating new bank accounts of which the FCA were unaware and by dissipating assets valued at over £65,000.
• R v V (2015): Instructed to represent V who was accused of stalking her ex-partner, primarily via Twitter. Successfully challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case as the overwhelming majority of the alleged course of conduct had occurred in jurisdictions other than England and Wales. The Crown were therefore unable to proceed with the case.
• R v S (2014): Defending S who was charged with 7 offences, including possession of a bladed article, breach of a restraining order and common assault. The bladed article charge was dismissed at half-time and S was acquitted of the remaining 6 offences.

Prosecution

Charlotte is a Level 2 CPS prosecutor who accepts instructions on behalf of various prosecution agencies including the Crown Prosecution Service, the Financial Conduct Authority and Transport for London.

She prosecutes across the full range of criminal offences, including allegations of serious violence, money laundering, sexual assault and child cruelty.

Charlotte has recently been instructed to prosecute increasingly serious and complex matters including an ‘acid attack’ case in which the complainant sustained life-changing injuries.

Cases

• R v D (2017): Prosecuted a mother who stood trial facing an allegation of child cruelty against her 6 month old daughter.
• R v C (2016): Prosecuted C, a lodger, who was charged with sexually assaulting one of the female occupants of the property in which he was residing.
• R v W (2016) – Prosecuted a ‘trial of the facts’ involving allegations of robbery and public disorder.
• R v J (2015): Instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service as disclosure counsel in the high-profile prosecution of a former Parliamentarian who was accused of numerous historic sexual offences.