Adrian is instructed in many high profile and contentious inquests. They have included cases that were delicate by their very nature or allegation, or complex in their detail. They have often lasted several weeks and involved the most sensitive of issues and information.
Adrian is instructed regularly where the issue is one of a systemic failure under Article 2. These often have involved the assimilation of the entire context of the death in its particular factual matrix.
He has particular expertise where the proceedings are before a jury. He brings to these proceedings his vast experience in the Regulatory field, as well as a thorough background in insurance, health and safety, and personal injury work. To this he adds the skills of a polished advocate who has been in silk since 2011.
Adrian has the background and legal expertise of a civil lawyer. He practised in personal injury, medical negligence and commercial law for many years whilst at the junior bar.
He is also regularly instructed where the issue is one of an operational failing. He is “first choice” counsel for the Police Federation for work of this nature.
He is also instructed by other professionals, including the medical profession, and increasingly by the family of the deceased.
He takes pride in his relations with his clients and his ability to build and lead a team.
Adrian undertakes direct access work.
Languages
French
Other Information
Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple
Vice Chairman of the Anglo Thai Society
Member of the International Committee of the Inner Temple
Governor of the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation
Trustee of the Thomas White Charity
Recommendations
“Adrian is an exceptionally gifted advocate with an innate ability to judge the right approach to any tribunal. His preparation for cases is always faultless and demonstrates the great thought given to cases.”
Legal 500 2023
“Adrian is an excellent all-round advocate. He is able to listen to the client and respond expertly to the needs of the case.”
Legal 500 2022
Band 1 Leading silk for Inquests and Inquiries and Regulatory and Health and Safety, and Crime – “a great tactician”
Legal 500 2020
Recommended for Criminal Work and Professional Discipline - “Adrian is a first-class barrister, who has an innate sense for the right tactical approach to a case and a magical touch with juries and tribunals”.
Chambers UK 2020
Notable Cases
Inquest Avril Hart (Cambridge)
Representing the University of East Anglia in an inquest into the death of Avril Harty from an eating disorder.
Inquest Paul Taylor (Stourport)
Article 2 jury inquest - Represented an officer alleged to have concealed the fact that the deceased swallowed drugs when stopped by the police.
Re B (Birmingham)
Represented a police officer at an Article 2 Inquest facing enquiry into if they had dealt with a missing person report and subsequent death adequately.
Greenfield and Others (Birmingham)
Represented a serving police officer alleged to have committed perjury at an Inquest into the death in custody of Kinglsey Burrell. This case attracted a very large amount of media attention. The officer was cleared both at a Crown Court trial and in subsequent disciplinary proceedings.
Inquest David McTaggart (Sandwell)
Represented a firearms officer where criticism was made of a failure to provide prompt medical treatment at the point of arrest which led to death.
Inquest Lynda Warren (Derby)
Represented the family in an inquest enquiring into the shorting comings of her medical care. Miss Warren and her family sought repeated medical assistance over the course of a week; from her GP, Accident and Emergency, the 101 phone line. All failed to asses her properly and recognise her ischemic bowel diseases which killed her.
Andrei Pavlov
Advised Mr Pavlov who was the alleged assassin by poisoning of the high profile death of Russian businessman Alexander Perepilichnyy with the poison from a rare Oriental orchid. The allegation was on of assassination on behalf of the Russian state.
Inquest Ballantyne (Leicester)
Represented PC Ballantyne a response officer in a liveried police car when he was involved in a head on collision with the deceased in a van. The officer sustained head injury which meant he has no recollection of events.
Inquest Lyons (Stoke on Trent)
A 6 week inquest concerning a death in custody with 9 legally represented interested parties. The complex issues included; the deployment of firearms officers to effect an arrest, the decision to arrest rather than section under the Mental Health Act, the decision to take the deceased into custody not hospital, the care of the deceased in custody, the decision not to take the deceased into hospital. Added to all this was the uncertainty of pathology in the medical cause of death, and if he would still have died had he been in hospital.
Inquest Shawn Browne (Birmingham)
Represented officers alleged by the family to have murdered Mr Browne. Successful application for anonymity. Subsequent successful defence of Judicial Review of the favourable jury finding.
Re W (Birmingham Coroners Court)
Represented several offices charged with the death in custody of a mentally ill man arrested but taken into custody and not referred to hospital.
Inquest of Lloyd Butler (Birmingham Coroners Court)
An inquest into a death in custody. This addressed sensitive issues of Police Policy, allegations of individual misfeasance, and also complicated issues of medical causation in cardiac arrest.
Inquest of Warren Broadhurst (Derby Coroners Court)
Represented a doctor in an inquest arising out of the suicide of a patient detained under the Mental Health Act. It had been contended that the medical decision not to detain the deceased was at fault. Issues of the governing policy as well as the decision making of the doctor were central to its resolution.
Inquest of PC X (South Yorkshire Coroners Court)
Represented a serving police officer who had acted as a “whistle blower” into the work practices that surrounded the suicide of a fellow officer. The sensitivities were profound.
Inquest of Jason Pearce (Shropshire Coroners Court)
Inquest arising out of a death in custody linked to drug induced excited delirium. It involved an in depth consideration of drug toxicity and causation.
Inquest of Cheryl Flanagan – (Worcester Coroners Court)
Represented a police officer investigated for the murder of his partner by allegedly leaving her unconscious on a tram line where she was run over.
Inquest of Alan Long (Stockport Coroners Court)
Represented several Greater Manchester Police officers involved in the fatal pursuit of a motor bike in a five-week inquest. It involved a thorough analysis and criticism of the national vehicle pursuit policy.
Inquest of Ian Terry (Manchester Coroners Court)
Represented several specialist Greater Manchester police firearms training officers in this incident that received a lot of national press coverage. It was a 6 week inquest into the fatal shooting of a colleague in a training exercise. It ranged over the most sensitive of firearms and counter terrorism material against a background of particular emotional sensitivity.
Memberships
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
Criminal Bar Association
Qualifications
MA (Hons) in Law – Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
