Daniel has a diverse and busy Crown Court criminal practice. He has extensive experience defending and prosecuting serious criminal cases all over the country, primarily in the West Midlands.
Daniel is regularly instructed in matters involving homicide, serious violence, fraud, drugs or sexual offences, both as a junior alone or being led. His recent cases have involved murder, high value frauds, rape and other sexual offences, death by dangerous driving, grievous bodily harm with intent, arson, kidnapping and blackmail, public order matters, revenue and customs offences and benefit fraud.
Daniel is particularly adept at quickly assimilating large amounts of evidence in order to narrow down the issues in the case. As a result of the variety of serious cases in which he has experience, he knows of the importance of rapidly gaining his client’s trust in order to get to the heart of any defence they may have. He is often instructed in complex cases or those with vulnerable defendants.
He also has extensive experience in offences of causing death by dangerous driving, death by careless driving, as well as non-fatal road traffic offences. Defendants involved in these kinds of cases often have different expectations and needs compared to other criminal cases. He is experienced at advising and reassuring his clients throughout their case, which can often be overwhelming for the individuals involved.
Daniel is a Grade 4 prosecutor for the CPS and has also been instructed to represent the Treasury Solicitor, local authorities, MOD Police and the DVSA.
Daniel is licensed to accept Public Access instructions.
"He is extremely hard-working and very bright."
Chambers UK 2023
Ranked in Band 2 Crime (Midlands)
Chambers UK 2022
"A good advocate who will stand his ground against a judge."
Chambers UK 2021
“He’s very intelligent and is able to assimilate huge quantities of material.”
Chambers UK 2020
Notable Cases
R v KP (Warwick Crown Court)
Multi-handed conspiracy involving a gun-point kidnapping, blackmail, ransom and mutilation of a victim. Five of the defendants received life sentences. Sensible advice and effective mitigation resulted in the defendant receiving one of the lowest sentences of all ten defendants and even avoiding an extended sentence.
R v C (Sheffield Crown Court)
Counsel for the sole defendant in a 600,000 fraud involving multi-million pound property deals. After a three and a half week trial the defendant was ultimately acquitted of three out of six counts and received a significantly lower sentence as a result of the jury’s verdict.
R v H (Warwick Crown Court)
Multi-handed car-ringing case involving high value German cars. The defendant was acquitted of all but one count, resulting in a conditional discharge.
R v G (Wolverhampton Crown Court)
Rape of a child. As a result of careful cross-examination of the young witness, the defendant was subsequently acquitted of one of the two counts. This significantly affected the ultimate sentence.
R v R (Birmingham Crown Court)
Attempted s.18 grievous bodily harm. After submissions from the defence the prosecution were forced to substitute the much lower offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The defendant received a much lower sentence as a result.
R v A-D (Birmingham Crown Court)
The defendant was acquitted of s.18 wounding with intent after the defence were able to establish that the main witness was wholly unreliable.
R v A (Birmingham Crown Court)
Led counsel in a large-scale mortgage fraud. The prosecution offered no evidence shortly before the start of the trial after expert handwriting evidence, commissioned by the defence team, was able to establish that the defendant had not signed documents that were critical evidence in the prosecution case.
R v C (Wolverhampton Crown Court)
Home invasion robbery where the defendant was accused of forcing his way into the home of a woman who owed him money for drugs.
R v W (Bradford Crown Court)
A multi-million pound Ponzi scheme fraud trial, lasting eight weeks. As led counsel the defence adduced evidence to establish that the defendant was in fact a victim of the fraud. In particular, evidence was called via live video link from America that established that the defendant had believed she had been investing in the scheme herself. The defendant was acquitted.
R v L (Stafford Crown Court)
Multi-million pound mortgage fraud prosecuted by a QC and junior. Instructed as counsel for the first defendant after all bar one of the other defendants in the case had pleaded guilty. The defence case was that the defendant had no knowledge of the fraud and had innocently been involved in a large number of mortgage applications that were, in fact, fraudulent. The defendant was acquitted.
R v S (Wolverhampton Crown Court)
False imprisonment and blackmail. Daniel represented one of a number defendants prosecuted for a detaining a former associate over an outstanding debt.
R v F (Court of Appeal and Chester Crown Court)
The defendant was ultimately acquitted of attempted rape and sentenced for a lesser offence after Daniel appealed against the defendant’s original conviction.
R v A (Wolverhampton Crown Court)
Prosecution for transporting counterfeit cigarettes. Daniel appeared on behalf of one of the defendants, where both were running a cutthroat defence.
R v D (Snaresbrook Crown Court)
The defendant was prosecuted for blackmail, false imprisonment and grievous bodily harm with intent.
R v B (Stafford Crown Court)
Robbery. Daniel made a successful submission of no case to answer on the basis that the identification procedure had been compromised due to the witnesses viewing Facebook prior to seeing the images at the police station.
R v M (Stafford Crown Court)
Arson, reckless as to whether life was endangered. The defendant was accused of conspiring with others to burn down the business premises of a former associate.
R v Z, S, P and C
Multi-million pound counterfeit cigarette importation case prosecuted on behalf of HMRC. This on going case involves two raids at warehouses where significant quantities of cigarettes were discovered. The premises were linked to one another by a number of defendants who are being prosecuted for their various roles in the case.
R v T (Worcester Crown Court)
Disclosure Junior for the prosecution in a high-profile "missing body” murder trial (led by Michael Burrows QC and Jonas Hankin QC). There were substantial police operations establishing the victim’s death, as well as other significant lines of enquiry, which resulted in an extremely large disclosure exercise. The defendant was ultimately convicted of the murder of his wife.
R v M (Derby Crown Court)
As led prosecution counsel, Daniel advised on the appropriate charges of fraud. The defendant was prosecuted for a high value fraud against local authorities and schools by bidding for contracts for bus routes when he had insufficient licences to run them all simultaneously. This was an extremely complicated case that required months in preparation. The defendant ultimately pleaded guilty shortly before the trial. Daniel, as sole counsel conducted confiscation proceedings, ensuring that the defendant was made the subject of a high value confiscation order.
Memberships
Criminal Bar Association
Midland Circuit
Middle Temple
Qualifications
BVC and PgDL from the College of Law, London
Harmsworth Major Scholar (Middle Temple)
MSci and BSc 2:1 (Hons) in Chemistry from University College London
