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Call: 1996

Kannan Siva

Albion Chambers

  • Broad Street Bristol BS1 1DR

Broad Street Bristol BS1 1DR

  • Overview

    Kannan Siva is a criminal practitioner who has vast experience of defending serious and complex conspiracies relating to drugs and firearms, organised crime, allegations of extreme violence, kidnap, blackmail and fraud. He also prosecutes cases involving organised crime and regularly prosecutes serious sexual allegations, including rape, or cases involving particularly vulnerable victims. He has been a CPS panel advocate level 4 prosecutor since 2009.

    Recent instructions include cases involving fatalities and attempted murder.

    In recent years he has regularly appeared for both Defence and Prosecution against King’s Counsel as the sole advocate or as the leading junior or led junior.

    Kannan’s experience and education includes 18 months employed as in-house Counsel for a busy criminal defence firm, a degree in English and a year as a medical student.

  • Crime

    Cases of interest include:

    • R v RL (2022) Gloucester Crown Court – Defence of man acquitted of attempted murder after a 7-day retrial, where defendant admitted causing multiple wounds to the torso, legs and hands with 2 weapons. D had already pleaded guilty to section 18. Prosecution relied upon internet searches, including some relating to murder. Cross-examination of prosecution forensic pathologist re causation and anatomy. Exploration of purpose of D and limited nature of revenge.
    • R v V (2022) Court of Appeal – Represented appellant. Appeal against sentence allowed. Suspended sentence could be imposed for serious offence of section 20 wounding by glassing (accepted at late stage shortly before trial listed for section 18), resulting in permanent scarring to teenager’s face and lasting nerve damage. Held that “the courts generally will always be reluctant to send a young offender with no previous convictions and no likelihood of reoffending to an immediate term of imprisonment unless the circumstances absolutely compel it”, even if the offence is serious.
    • R v MD (2021) Kingston Crown Court. Defence in conspiracy to supply class A drugs. Written submissions based on principle of double jeopardy, namely that the prosecution amounted to an “aggravated form” of the conspiracy to which the defendant pleaded guilty in Bristol in 2020. Prosecution offered no evidence after reconsideration of public interest following abuse of process submissions.
    • ‘Operation Amazon’ (2021) Cardiff Crown Court – Leading Junior for the Defence, leading Alec Small. Issues involved modern slavery and consideration of public interest and ambit of offence for those who are cuckooed.
    • ‘Operation Glendora’ (2020 and 2021) Bristol Crown Court – Leading Junior for the Prosecution in a complex case in which convictions secured against all defendants for offences of human trafficking, management of a brothel and money laundering. Cases involved advising on further defendants and legal issues including severance of money-laundering count. Investigation shown in Channel 4 documentary in July 2021 “Taken: Hunting the Sex Traffickers”.
    • ‘Operation Bounty’ (2019 and 2020) Bristol Crown Court – Defence application to dismiss conspiracy to murder allegation upheld when Kannan’s lay client initially appeared as the first defendant. Kannan acted as junior alone. Permissible and safe inferences from telephony. Defendant subsequently added as third defendant accused of assisting an offender. Defendant acquitted after two weeks of prosecution case.
    • ‘Operation Apex’ (2019) Birmingham Crown Court – Leading Junior for the Prosecution, leading Chloe Griggs, in a four-week trial beginning with a hit-and-run road traffic collision with elderly pedestrian using a high-performance car, followed by perverting the course of justice, leading in turn to a series of conspiracies to rob victims of high-value motor vehicles. Analysis of telephony where some offenders tried unsuccessfully to conceal identities. The ringleader, who pleaded guilty, received consecutive term to the earliest release date of his existing life sentence.
    • ‘Operation Attica’ (2018) Bristol Crown Court – Leading Junior for the Defence of first defendant leading Alun Williams in multi-defendant six-week Class A drug-trafficking trial. Issues included unsuccessful application to exclude co-defendant’s guilty plea where there was evidence of ambivalence and prevention of adverse inferences from no comment interview when this was not explored by the Prosecution.
    • ‘Operation Willow’ (2018) – Bristol Crown Court. Allegations of child sexual exploitation, drugs supply and “cuckooing” in a four-week trial arising from complex investigation. Presentation and management of disclosure of voluminous data arising from social media accounts of teenagers, including vulnerable victims. Issues included mitigation afforded to co-defendant arising from NRM referral as potential victim of “slavery”. Assisted by Disclosure Counsel.
    • ‘Operation Thorne’ (2017) Plymouth Crown Court – Prosecuting Counsel assisted by Disclosure Counsel, Chloe Griggs, in complex six-week trial of a woman who live-streamed sexual abuse of a very young child to another woman in the USA. Collaborative investigation between UK and FBI.
    • ‘Operation Kneel’ (2017) St Albans Crown Court – Leading Junior for the Defence in complex 11-week trial alleging conspiracy to import firearms from The Netherlands.
    • R v PK (2015) Bristol Crown Court – Leading Junior for the Prosecution (leading Edward Hetherington) in a trial lasting several weeks in which the defendant was convicted of conspiracy to supply diamorphine from Liverpool to south of England. National scale with international dimension including EAW and bad character evidence from Holland.
    • R v W (2013 and 2014) Bristol Crown Court – Defence of doctor acquitted after two separate trials of alleged fraud and theft of medication. Issues included professional discipline from previous GMC proceedings and cross-examination of prosecution medical expert involved analysis of effect of synthetic and semi-synthetic opioid analgesics and combinations with other drugs on the human body.
    • R v C (2012) Court of Appeal. Appeal against convictions allowed after initial refusal of leave by the single judge. Analysis of impact of ‘fresh evidence’ not available at trial, non-disclosure of relevant Social Services’ material.
    • R v B (2010 and 2011) – Liverpool Crown Court and Court of Appeal. Leading Junior for the Prosecution in a high-profile trial of a serial sex offender, which attracted national publicity, brought by the Southwest Complex Casework Unit and heard in the Crown Court at Liverpool. Conviction upheld and life sentence upheld in the Court of Appeal.
Kannan Siva

Education

  • BA (Hons)

Professional memberships

  • Western Circuit
  • CBA