William Davis

Practice Profile

Ranked as a Leading Junior in Professional Discipline and Regulatory Law in the Legal 500. 

William Davis is an experienced criminal advocate with particular expertise in fraud and confiscation. He is in demand to prosecute for the CPS Specialist Fraud Division and the Serious Fraud Office, and is instructed by the Civil Aviation Authority, the Health and Safety Executive, the Office of Rail and Road, and Westminster City Council. He has appeared at Courts Martial and before the Parole Board, and has extensive experience of professional disciplinary work. His courtroom manner is composed and authoritative and he inspires confidence in both his professional and lay clients. He is secretary of the Criminal Bar Association Education and Training Committee, and a member of the Fraud Lawyers Association and the South Eastern Circuit.

Significant instructions for 2018 include: R v. LM and Others – Leading for the Prosecution in first ever prosecution for fraud against Redundancy Payments Service; R v. TD and Others – Leading Prosecution Counsel in multi-million pound prosecution for duty evasion; R v. Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd – Prosecution Counsel in health and safety prosecution following level crossing accident; and R v. AM and Others – Defence Counsel in £15m alleged money laundering.

Appointments:

• CPS Panel Advocate - Grade 4
• CPS Specialist Panel - Rape & Serious Sexual Offences
• CPS Specialist Panel - Fraud 
• CPS Specialist Panel - Serious Crime
• SFO Panel of Counsel - List B
• Regulatory List of Specialist Advocates in Health & Safety and Environmental Law - List C

News

• R v. IH & ors [C.C.C.] 2017

  Perverting the Course of Justice / Homicide

  William Davis was defence Counsel for a Defendant charged with perverting the course of justice. The Defendant was accused of enabling the main suspect in a murder enquiry to evade police in the hours following the murder and to avoid arrest for a period of five months by making false witness statements and arranging accommodation for him.

• R v Ruta Sperskaite & ors [Croydon] 2017

  Sham Marriages Prosecution

  William Davis was Instructed as Junior Defence Counsel for one of six Defendants charged with conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration by arranging sham marriages. The Defendants were Lithuanian and arranged for women to travel to the UK to marry non-EEA nationals.

  Evening Standard report here.

  Telegraph report here.

  Daily Mail report here.

• R v. Giang Huong Tran [Stafford] 2017

  Prosecutions brought under the Modern Slavery Act 2015

  William Davis was Defence Counsel in one of the first prosecutions brought under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for subjecting victims to forced or compulsory labour. The Defendants were Vietnamese and owned nail bars in Bath and Burton-upon-Trent. The police found young Vietnamese girls working there who had entered the UK illegally and were alleged to be working without pay in return for food and accommodation. The case is to be the subject of a BBC documentary series in 2018.

  BBC report here.

• R v Mehdi Khashi [Chelmsford] 2016

  Rape, sexual activity with a child, inciting prostitution, and supplying controlled drugs.

  William Davis was Junior Defence Counsel for one of a group of Defendants accused of serious sexual offences against three different complainants, including rape, sexual activity with a child, inciting prostitution, and supplying controlled drugs.

  News report here.

• R v Tahir Mahmood [Leeds] 2016

  25 Defendants alleged to have committed serious sexual offences against young girl.

  William Davis was Defence Counsel for one of 25 Defendants alleged to have committed serious sexual offences against a vulnerable young girl. The investigation resulted in a series of four trials heard in 2016, and formed part of the pilot scheme for pre-recorded cross-examination.

  BBC report here.

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