Ranked as a Leading Junior in Professional Discipline and Regulatory Law in the Legal 500 2018. William Davis is an experienced criminal advocate with particular expertise in fraud and confiscation.
William Davis 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.
William Davis led in the prosecution of a group of accountants who committed a £700K fraud against the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS), a government agency that makes payments to workers owed money when their employers become insolvent. The Defendants arranged for 105 false applications to be submitted, in some cases supported by false identifies and forged documents. This was the first ever prosecution for fraud against the RPS. In a separate investigation, William Davis again led in the prosecution of Lennox McLeod for a VAT fraud committed during the same period as the RPS case. The defendant took over the VAT affairs of a company after the death of its director and falsely claimed over £100K in VAT refunds.
William Davis prosecuted Network Rail for breaches of health and safety regulations at East Farleigh Level Crossing following an accident in which a signaller was seriously injured. The trial involved complex expert evidence about the process of risk assessment at level crossings and the mathematical modelling used. The jury heard evidence from signallers working at East Farleigh, their line managers, and from Network Rail’s director of public and passenger safety. Network Rail were convicted at trial and fined £200,000.
William Davis led Dickon Reid in the prosecution of five defendants charged with a £3.6m alcohol duty and VAT evasion fraud. The ringleaders were importing beer, wine and spirits from Europe using sophisticated mirror loads. Evidentially, the case was complicated and comprised numerous strands including surveillance, phone evidence, CCTV, business records and expert evidence relating to cell site, handwriting and tachographs. The two leading defendants received sentences close to the statutory maximum. Instructed by CPS Special Casework.
William Davis acted for the crown in this case that was a revenue fraud prosecution and instructed by the CPS Specialist Fraud Division. The Defendant was a Polish lorry driver caught with four million cigarettes concealed in a lorry carrying parts for a destined for a major car plant in the UK. The total revenue evaded was over £1M.
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.
