Paul Cook
Degree: BA (Hons) Kent Politics and Government; PCL; Diploma in Law
Year of call and Inn: 1992; Middle Temple
Professional Membership: Western Circuit; CBA
Practice:
Paul Cook is a specialist in criminal law undertaking prosecution and defence work. He is a CPS Grade 3 Prosecutor.
He has particular expertise in sexual offences, having prosecuted and defended in rapes, sexual assaults, child pornography, child abduction and internet grooming offences. In particular, he is very familiar with representing the interests of young, vulnerable and special-needs witnesses and defendants. Paul additionally conducts trials involving the supply of class A drugs, offences of violence and dishonesty, and is frequently instructed to prosecute multi-defendant cases. He also represents local authorities in applications seeking Public Interest Immunity in respect of Social Services files. He has been junior counsel in cases involving a range of offences.
Paul is approved on the Western Circuit Advocacy Programme for Circuit pupils as an advocacy trainer, a programme he has been actively involved with for five years.
In 2005 he became the Bar Junior for Bristol and in 2008 was elected Circuit Junior for the Western Circuit.
Reported Cases
Regina v Roisetter [2004] EWCA Crim 1827 & Mitchell on Confiscation at 5.023A: Confiscation following a financial investigation; Consideration of benefit from criminal conduct where proceeds of crime had already been recovered leaving the Appellant with no gain;
Regina v M, Times Law Reports 18 August 2004: Imposition of an extended sentence on a sex offender where the risk of re-offending had been assessed as low;
Cases of particular interest include:
Regina v Matthew Roberts: Junior Counsel for the Crown in the Midsomer Norton “body in the freezer” murder.
Regina v Gibbs and others: Junior for the Crown in an eight-week trial involving the prosecution of 10 defendants charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis to a value of £100,000. Particular issues arising included argument concerning the use of surveillance equipment under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
Regina v Heal: Junior Counsel in a complex three-week confiscation hearing following the defendant’s conviction at trail. The confiscation hearing resulted in the Avon and Somerset constabulary’s largest order for confiscation in the region of £1m. Particular issues of note included an examination of the defendant’s financial dealings throughout his entire adult life to establish the criminal basis for his assets during the relevant period.
Regina v Howley and others: Junior Counsel defending an accountant in a 16-week trial concerning a conspiracy to commit a million-pound insurance fraud. Particular issues included the late introduction and probative value of metadata as part of the Crown’s case and the calculations of loss adjusters [of for example], the loss of business resulting from the damage to highly specialised electronic equipment.
Regina v Tedesco and others: Prosecuting Counsel in a Department of Work and Pensions prosecution of a £100,000 nationwide benefit fraud conspiracy involving the theft, forgery and presentation of benefit books at Post Offices.
Inquests
Paul has specialist experience in Inquests and was instructed in the nationally reported case of Molly Cunliffe; a toddler who was strangled by a drawstring bag tied to the cot at her nursery.
Other inquests include:
Flight Lieutenant Simon Burgess whose jet aircraft crashed at RAF Valley in Anglesey following the disconnection of the aileron rods during routine maintenance;
Kathleen Warbutton; a 1960s model who starved to death;
Dennis Jones; HDU hospital patient who died following dislodgement of his tracheotomy.
Workplace inquests include a care-home patient who died in the bath and a building site employee who fell from scaffolding. Hospital deaths include that of a patient who died when a feeding tube accidentally was placed in the lung.
Albion Chambers, Broad Street, Bristol BS1 1DR
T: 0117 927 2144
F: 0117 926 2569
paul.cook@albionchambers.co.uk
Clerk: Nick Jeanes
T 0117 311 0307
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