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 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.

Recent 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: 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 S: 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 six offences.
• R v F: Represented F, who stood trial facing identical allegations of sexual assault made by two females who were unknown to each other and unknown to F. The jury could not agree upon any verdicts.
• FCA v N: 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 R: Represented R, who had pleaded guilty to multiple counts of breaching his Sexual Offences Notification Requirements. Charlotte persuaded the Judge to impose a suspended sentence order, despite the fact that this was her client’s nineteenth breach of a Court order, committed whilst subject to a further suspended sentence order.
• R v V: 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 B: 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.

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 a three-handed case involving allegations of both civil and criminal contempt arising out of multiple breaches of a Restraint Order.

Cases

• R v G: Instructed as junior counsel in the first ever criminal prosecution brought by the FCA in relation to its consumer credit powers. The defendant was an unlicensed money lender who illegally lent in excess of £1m to consumers and received in excess of £2m in loan repayments after his consumer credit licence was revoked by the Office of Fair Trading.
• R v B and R: Instructed as disclosure counsel in the prosecution of two former Christian Brothers who faced multiple allegations of physical abuse against children in their care. Further details can be found on the BBC Website 
• R v D: Prosecuted a mother who stood trial facing an allegation of child cruelty against her 6 month old baby.
• R v C: 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:  Prosecuted a ‘trial of the facts’ involving allegations of robbery and public disorder.
• R v J: Instructed as disclosure counsel in the high-profile prosecution of a former Parliamentarian who was accused of numerous historic sexual offences against children.