Adam Vaitilingam
Degree: MA (Cantab)
Year of call and Inn: 1987; Middle Temple
Appointments: Recorder 2005 (Crown and County Courts)
Professional Membership: Western Circuit
Practice:
Adam Vaitilingam practices in both criminal and civil work and sits as a Recorder in the Crown Court and the County Court.
Adam also has an interest in teaching advocacy and human rights law, and has taught and lectured in Russia, Mauritius and Hong Kong on behalf of the Council of Europe and the British Council.
Crime
He undertakes defence and prosecution work, both as leading junior and as junior, and is a CPS Grade 4 prosecutor. He has wide experience in cases involving allegations of homicide, sexual offending, drug trafficking and fraud.
Cases of interest in 2008 and 2009:
Fraud and Theft
Defending contractors at Devonport nuclear submarine base, charged with a high-value timekeeping fraud;
Defending allegations of fraud in the importation of cars at Avonmouth docks;
Defending a solicitor accused of stealing £1 million from his employers;
Defending a 16 year-old accused of a series of armed robberies across the Bristol area, where victims were threatened with guns and samurai swords;
Prosecuting “Wiltshire’s most wanted”, for a series of robberies and burglaries across the county;
Defending in the first-ever trial under 1988 Copyright Act for the sale of “modchips”, which allow games consoles to play counterfeit games. Conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal because of technical defects in the prosecution case.
Murder and Attempted Murder
Defending a woman charged with murder, where her partner had killed the victim and then committed suicide before trial;
Defending a man accused of participating in the killing of a pensioner during a “distraction burglary”;
Defending a charge of attempted murder of an ex-partner’s new boyfriend.
Sexual Offences
Prosecuting a man accused of a series of rapes of prostitutes in Bristol;
Prosecuting men accused of the gang rape of a prostitute in Swindon;
Defending a taxi driver charged with a series of offences against cerebral palsy victims;
Defending a charge of date rape, where the defendant had provided GHB (the “date rape drug”) to a girl at a party;
Defending an elderly man accused of serious offences against women and children over three decades;
Prosecuting and defending in cases involving the production and possession of child pornography on the internet.
Drugs, Kidnap and violence
Prosecuting and defending cases involving the production and trafficking of cannabis, cocaine and heroin, and involving allegations of kidnap and torture in pursuit of drug-related debts;
Defending in the “kidnap” of a grandson, who had been removed from his mother and taken to Brazil for many years;
Defending a prisoner charged with inflicting GBH on a prison officer.
Civil
Adam has a wide-ranging practice, including personal injury, employment, TOLATA and 1975 Inheritance Act claims, and acts in police disciplinary claims and judicial review cases.
Recent cases of interest include:
“Credit crunch” employment cases involving redundancies made by firms of estate agents and solicitors;
Sex discrimination allegations on behalf of male employees of a local authority;
High-value dependency claims under the Fatal Accidents Act;
Mesothelioma claims agaisnt multiple employers;
Allegations of professional negligence against solicitors for poor advice on an equity release scheme;
Long-running dispute over the estate of a high-profile artist who died intestate.
Reported Cases
Higgs (copyright infringement) 2009 1 WLR 73
Simpson (attempted murder) 2008 1 Cr App R (S) 111
Richards (deception) 2007 Cr App R (S) 80
Edmond (judicial review) 2006 RTR 18
Publications:
Author of the Rough Guides to Jamaica, Barbados and Antigua.
Author of Financial Times Guide to Business Law.
Albion Chambers, Broad Street, Bristol BS1 1DR
T: 0117 927 2144
F: 0117 926 2569
adam.vaitilingam@albionchambers.co.uk
Clerks:
Crime: Bonnie Colbeck
T 0117 311 0301
Civil: Michael Harding
T 0117 311 0302
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