Sam is a specialist criminal barrister, instructed for both prosecution and defence. His practice is focused on serious and complex cases, usually involving organised crime, violence, firearms, drugs, and fraud. He is on the CPS General Crime, Serious Crime, and Fraud Panels at Level 3.
As a committed advocate, Sam places great emphasis on thorough preparation and engaging with the real issues in a case, allowing for first-class advocacy before judge or jury. Formerly an IT developer, Sam is at ease conducting cases involving digital evidence. He draws on his experience to quickly analyse and present high-volumes of complex information. He is experienced with cases consisting of many moving parts, usually involving complex facts, multiple defendants, and lots of pieces of evidence to sift through.
Recent instructions have included:
Leading junior in an eight-handed money laundering case arising from a sophisticated fraud against a telecommunications company (Op Typhoon).
Sole and led junior in various 'Operation Venetic' EncroChat prosecutions, including a seven-handed conspiracy to supply cocaine and a three-week trial involving technical admissibility challenges (Ops Caliadne, Localizer, Script, Serious, Sunshine, and Widthwise)
Led junior in a 11-week trial involving a family of drug traffickers moving 1 tonne of cocaine around the UK (Op Varbody).
Led junior in a 10-handed conspiracy to supply 780kg of cocaine that the defendants tried to intercept as the container it was in was moved from port to warehouse (Op Narrative).
Led junior in a 16-week importation trial, involving 270kg of cocaine, 2500kg of cannabis and 18.6m duty-free cigarettes hidden inside shipping containers (Op Tamora).
Led junior in an attempted murder arising from the alleged sale of a revolver, where a 12-bore shotgun was then fired twice through the letterbox of a dwelling (Ops Vivalas and Kikifeet).
Led junior in the final trial of Operation Melrose, the investigation into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found inside a lorry in Essex in 2019.
Led junior in a 'Flying Squad' conspiracy focused on an OCG committing a series of robberies and burglaries across London (Op Forte).
Led junior in a complex diminished responsibility murder trial, prosecuting a defendant with a previous conviction for an unlawful killing in similar circumstances.
Sole junior in a sophisticated fraud involving complex computing evidence, where the defendants had created a website to steal online banking information (Op Tablemaking).
Sole junior in a computer misuse and fraud case, where the defendants had allegedly sold access to the NHS Covid-19 vaccination database (Op Bluejay).
Sole junior in a three-handed conspiracy to defraud a vulnerable victim of £170k.
Sam has also been instructed in several long-term projects, including the Post Office 'Horizon' disclosure review, an SFO disclosure review, and a secondment to one of the CPS Crown Court teams. He was a keynote speaker at the Cityforum Digital Forensics Summit, presenting on the uses of digital forensic evidence in jury trials.
Outside of law, Sam is a keen skier, snowboarder, and scuba diver. He previously competed internationally for Great Britain in Canoe Marathon.
CPS Specialist Serious Crime Group Panel at Level 3.
CPS Specialist Fraud Panel at Level 3.
CPS Specialist Proceeds of Crime Panel at Level 2.
The Bar Council IT Panel.
Qualifications
MPhil, Criminology, University of Cambridge.
LLB, Law, University of East Anglia.
Scholarships and Prizes
Sir Louis Gluckstein Prize for advocacy - Lincoln’s Inn.
Levitt Scholarship - Lincoln’s Inn.
Buchanan Prize - Lincoln’s Inn.
Lord Denning Scholarship - Lincoln’s Inn.
Hardwicke Scholarship - Lincoln’s Inn.
Runner-Up, Law Reform Essay Competition - Bar Council.
Clare Hall Bursary - Clare Hall, University of Cambridge.
Prize for Exceptional Achievement - University of East Anglia.
Publications
Sam is the author of 'A Practical Guide to Digital Communications Evidence in Criminal Law' - a textbook aimed at practitioners looking to understand the most common types of digital communications evidence used in criminal prosecutions. It can be purchased directly from the publisher or from Wildy. A sample chapter is available here. He has also been asked to present Webinars on digital evidence, specifically 'Using Mobile Telephone Data' and 'Call Data, Cell Sites, and Internet Records'.
Sam also publishes a free weekly 'updater' of criminal law news - intended for practitioners, law students, and anyone with an interest in the criminal justice system of England and Wales. You can subscribe to Witness here.
Sam has published two mobile apps for criminal lawyers. Crime Fees is a free criminal legal aid calculator for barristers and solicitors. Available for iOS, Android and macOS, it can be downloaded here. Crime QRH is an easy to use guide to criminal offences for criminal lawyers and court advocates - a searchable database providing quick access to key details e.g. max sentence, guidelines, class of offence, dangerousness provisions. Available for iOS, Android and macOS, it can be downloaded here.
Charlotte Hole and Sam Willis prosecuted a family of drug traffickers responsible for moving at least one tonne of cocaine from ports in the South East to towns and cities across the UK.
Headed up by grandmother Deborah Mason, self-described as ‘Gangster Debbs’ and saved in another defendant’s phone as ‘Queen Bee’, the close-knit group of nine defendants were responsible for collecting up to 60 1kg blocks of cocaine at a time from the Harwich / Colchester area, and then delivering them to serious organised crime groups in Rotherham, Bradford, Leicester, Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff for onward supply. Around 55 individual trips were made by the group during 2023, each trip involving multiple drug drops or cash collections, amounting to around a tonne of cocaine in total.
The trial of eight of the defendants at Woolwich Crown Court concluded this week, and involved the presentation of cell site and ANPR mapping, surveillance evidence, and a schedule of 7,500 messages exchanged between the defendants revealing the inner workings of the conspiracy.
Two of the defendants pleaded guilty during the trial and six were convicted by the jury. One defendant had already pleaded guilty at an earlier stage in the proceedings.
Charlotte and Sam were instructed by Rob Hutchinson of the CPS Complex Casework Unit.
Sam Willis prosecuted three cyber-criminals for building and running a website used by fraudsters to circumvent bank security checks.
Investigated by the National Crime Agency, the website, called OTP.Agency, was a tool designed to be used by fraudsters to convince their victims to hand over the one-time-passcodes sent by banks when accessing online banking or when making purchases.
Logs and messages recovered during the investigation indicated that the website had been used by over 3,000 fraudsters to make over 66,000 calls to potential victims between March and October of 2021.
Sam Willis prosecuted this EncroChat case involving the supply of 13kg of Class A drugs in London. The case centered on attribution, piecing together information from the messages and photographs shared, items seized, call data records, information held on the police databases, tenancy information, and Border Force records. The defendant was convicted after a 5-day trial.
Sam Willis, led by James Brown, prosecuted the "biggest seizure of Class A drugs" ever made by Northamptonshire Police, centred around a shipment of 780kg of cocaine. Worth £78m, the drugs had been concealed inside a shipping container that had arrived into the Port of Felixstowe.
Sam was instructed by Kate Mulholland of the CPS Complex Casework Unit.
Sam Willis was instructed as led junior to prosecute this EncroChat Operation Venetic case involving the supply of an AK-47 assault rifle, an Intratec Tec-9 automatic pistol, ammunition, and cocaine. The nature of the case and the issues at trial required the calling of three different expert witnesses to give opinion evidence on firearms, drugs, and cell site mapping.
Dickon Reid and Sam Willis prosecuted the joint case arising from Operations Vivalas and Kikifeet. After a stabbing in North London, police found a loaded Turkish revolver inside the victim’s car. Less than 48-hours later, three masked men fired a 12-bore shotgun through the letterbox of a house connected to the stabber. The prosecution’s case was that the two incidents were linked - the second being a revenge attack for the first.
Charlotte Hole and Sam Willis prosecuted two importers for bringing into the UK 270 kilograms of cocaine, 2.5 tonnes of cannabis and 18.6 million duty-free cigarettes, all hidden inside shipping containers. Valued at £24m, the drugs had been vacuum-packed and then secreted inside crates of animal feed, yams and oranges. The cigarettes were concealed in a similar manner, hidden inside crates of snack food, coconut fibre and biscuits - the tax that should have been paid on them if imported lawfully totalled just over £9m.
The case followed an extensive investigation by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, who became involved when a farmer discovered 189kg of cocaine in a shipping container full of animal feed. The defendants had unsuccessfully tried to divert the container to their warehouse in London so that the drugs could be removed before the container reached the farm.
During the 16-week trial, the conspiracy was evidenced using material from numerous encrypted communications services. The jury heard technical evidence involving cell site analysis, VPN services, and IP address resolution.
Charlotte and Sam were instructed by the CPS Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate (SEOCID).
Sam Willis, led by Charlotte Hole, prosecuted this case of an OCG committing a spree of commercial burglaries across London. The group targeted bookmakers and other shops, typically breaking in during the night using sledgehammers and then cutting open the shop's safe using power tools. Investigated by the Flying Squad, the evidence against the eight defendants was presented over four weeks and included CCTV, covert surveillance, forensics, mobile telephone downloads, and cell site mapping.
Sam was instructed by the CPS Complex Casework Unit.
Sam Willis, led by Dickon Reid, prosecuted this organised crime group who were facilitating illegal entry into the UK by providing false passports in exchange for cash. Over a six-week trial, evidence against the seven defendants was presented showing numerous trips to European cities where false passports were handed over to asylum seekers who then used them to board flights to the UK.
Legal issues during the case included the use of evidence from foreign law enforcement authorities, the admissibility of a modern slavery expert's opinion on the evidence, and the extent to which a claim to be a modern slave could amount to an abuse of process.
Sam was instructed by the CPS East of England Complex Casework Unit.
Sam Willis, led by William Davis, prosecuted this EncroChat OCG who were involved in the supply of 30+ kilos of cocaine around London. The case was in the first wave of prosecutions following the infiltration of the Encro network, and the trial involved several admissibility arguments relating to the source, integrity and reliability of the data. A further complicating factor was that the lead defendant’s wife was a serving Met Police officer.
Sam was instructed by the CPS London Complex Casework Unit.
Sam Willis, led by Rupert Kent, prosecuted this high-profile 'cash for visa' scam, focused around a company pretending to be involved in the Bollywood film industry. The 16-week trial resulted in unanimous guilty verdicts against six of the eight defendants. The jury heard how the 'employees' had been transferring their own money to the company, which was then used to pay the wage bill. This facade disguised the reality - that the company was not trading, that the 'employees' were not doing any real work, and that the 'employment' was merely a vehicle for the sale of worker visas. Sam was instructed by the CPS Special Casework Unit.
Sam Willis, led by Ben Holt, prosecuted this criminal enterprise to transport large quantities of cocaine from London to Brighton for onward distribution. The evidence came from call data records, a surveillance operation, and 'EncroChat' Operation Venetic material, which all had to be carefully presented at trial.
Sam Willis was instructed as led-junior in this 12-handed tobacco importation matter. The overall duty evaded was calculated to be over £2.6 million. Preparation for the case required extensive analysis of mobile telephone billing data.
