Pump Court

Lucy Sweetland

Call 2014
Memberships
  • Criminal Bar Association
  • South Eastern Circuit
  • Health & Safety Lawyers’ Association
  • Young Fraud Lawyers Association

 

 

Qualifications
  • Megarry Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
  • Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
  • Lord Brougham Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
  • Bar Professional Training Course (Outstanding), Kaplan Law School
  • Graduate Diploma in Law (Commendation), Kaplan Law School
  • BA History, University of Cambridge

Instructing Lucy Sweetland

To instruct Lucy or for any further information please contact our clerks.

Clerk: John Grimmer
Telephone: +44 (0)7776 154 664
Email: Click here

Lucy has a strong criminal practice both prosecuting and defending in a wide range of serious criminal matters including allegations of murder, rape, kidnapping, wounding with intent and other violent offences, as well as cases involving firearms, large scale drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering. She is a Grade 3 CPS prosecutor.

Lucy has also appeared alone several times before the Court of Appeal in successful appeals against sentence and conviction.

Lucy has been instructed as a led junior in murder trials for both the prosecution and the defence, including a recent case which South Wales police described as one of the largest and most complex investigations they had undertaken into the activities of an organised crime group; her client was acquitted of murder during the prosecution case following successful legal argument on the admissibility of an alleged confession.

In 2023 she was involved in the prosecution of two long running historic sexual abuse trials, having built up considerable experience in this type of investigation.

She is currently instructed to defend in what is alleged to be the UK’s largest ever timeshare fraud.

As well as criminal trials, Lucy has a growing practice in professional discipline, inquests, and other quasi-criminal matters. She has acted both for and against the police in applications for cash forfeiture and freezing injunctions, and has appeared in the High Court in contempt proceedings for breach of a civil injunction. In 2018, she assisted in drafting the Home Office Response to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse.

Prior to pupillage, Lucy spent five months at the Gulf Region Advocacy Centre in Texas, representing prisoners on Death Row, where she assisted in drafting appeals to the state and federal courts.

Practice Areas

Crime

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.
Professional Discipline

Lucy has a growing regulatory practice and accepts instructions both from regulatory bodies and on behalf of professionals facing Fitness to Practice proceedings.

She is frequently instructed to present cases for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Dental Council and has also acted for a dispensing optician in relation to charges brought against him by the General Optical Council.

Coroner's Inquests

Lucy has a developing practice in the Coroners’ Courts, having recently represented an interested party in relation to a young person’s suicide on school grounds, and also acted for the family in an inquest which heard evidence from the treating physicians about a vulnerable woman’s death following surgery.

Inquests Memberships:

  • Health & Safety Lawyers’ Association

Practice Areas

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