Lucy Sweetland

Lucy’s practice involves representing defendants charged with the most serious criminal offences including rape and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, as well as the full range of drugs and dishonesty offences. She has particular experience both representing and cross-examining vulnerable witnesses and defendants.

She ensures meticulous preparation and a strategic approach to cases from the outset and is often chosen to represent individuals of good character facing serious allegations such as sexual assault and fraud. In one recent such case, the pursuit of targeted disclosure requests led to the unearthing of crucial, previously undisclosed material which resulted in the prosecution offering no evidence on the day of trial.

Lucy is also a Grade 3 CPS prosecutor and regularly prosecutes complex and multi-handed trials in the Crown Court including fraud and money laundering cases, as well as being instructed to advise on matters pre-charge and as disclosure counsel in complex investigations involving sensitive police investigations and historic third-party material.

As a led junior, Lucy has acted for the both the prosecution and defence in multi-handed cases of murder, attempted murder, and drug trafficking. She is used to dealing with complex issues around cell site and other telecommunications data, surveillance operations and expert DNA evidence. She also has considerable experience of cases involving the prosecution of historic sexual offences with multiple complainants, and the legal and evidential challenges those cases bring.

Lucy has a strong practice representing children and young people facing serious charges in the Youth Court and Crown Court. She also has particular experience in dealing with psychiatric and psychological reports and referrals regarding issues of modern slavery or exploitation, as well as working with intermediaries. In one such case, she was able to draw on expert reports to persuade a Crown Court judge to impose a suspended sentence on a young woman for planning an armed aggravated burglary involving machetes at her biological father’s home when she was 17 years old.

Crime Memberships:

•  Criminal Bar Association
• South Eastern Circuit

Notable Cases

• R v RK & JD (2024): prosecuting a trustee and director of a children’s charity for fraud by abuse of position and the misappropriation of more than £200,000 of donations. Lucy was instructed to advise on charge in 2021 and had responsibility for the case through to its successful conclusion.
• R v HH (2023): representing a man accused of violently raping a woman on the street in North London whilst she was working as a sex worker, with issues both of fact and reasonable belief in consent; acquitted after a nine day trial.
• R v AR & another (2023): led by Jacqueline Carey QC for the Crown in case of murder by stabbing, which involved extensive legal argument over the admissibility of an admission contained with the defendant’s Defence Statement; the defendant was convicted of murder.
• R v PH & PH (2023): Prosecuting a husband and wife for a catalogue of sexual and physical abuse and cruelty towards their three children and two grandchildren over four decades. Instructed as disclosure counsel from the point of charge and throughout two month trial, resulting in convictions on 37 counts.
• R v MQ & others (2022): led by Allan Compton KC representing one of six defendants charged with murder during the alleged robbery of a cannabis factory and participation in the activities of an organised crime group. Acquitted during the Crown’s case following successful legal argument on an alleged confession.
• R v KG (2021): defending on charges of conspiracy to supply multiple kilos of cocaine. The case against KG, a man of previous good character, rested on surveillance and telephone links to other alleged conspirators. This evidence was substantially undermined through the trial process, to the extent that after a hung jury the prosecution decided not to proceed to a retrial.
• R v JE (2020): led junior for the prosecution in multi-count historic abuse of two family members; after a six week trial the defendant was convicted of all counts and received an extended sentence of 24 years.
• R v AC & others (2019): led junior for the defence in multi-handed ‘County Lines’ drugs and human trafficking conspiracy. Lucy was responsible for arguing the successful submission of no case to answer on the human trafficking charges, which was followed by the jury acquitting the defendant on the drugs conspiracy.
• AG’s Reference (R v FK) (2018): Representing a young man who pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a woman outside a nightclub and received a suspended sentence of imprisonment. The Attorney General referred the matter to the Court of Appeal as Unduly Lenient and Lucy successfully opposed this application before the full court against Monitoree Treasury Counsel.
• R v OK (2018): Successful defence at trial of a father charged with cruelty and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in respect of his 5 month of child.
• HU v R (2017): Appeal to the Court of Appeal on behalf of a 16 year old who pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary involving a firearm; sentence was reduced from 6 years 8 months to 5 years.