Today, in Plymouth Crown Court, Garnham J acceded to a half-time submission and withdrew counts of murder and manslaughter from the jury. Simon Wotton had been charged with murder following the discovery of the dead body of Colin Baines. The two men were friends and had spent the previous day, and most of the night, drinking heavily. They had also engaged in drunken fighting, some of it playfighting, at other times less playful and more confrontational.

In a recent trial before the Crown Court at Plymouth, Anthony Brinton was forced to plead guilty to murder at the end of the defence case. The circumstances, though rare were not exceptional; the defendant ran a defence of loss of control but, following an application by the prosecution, the judge withdrew that defence from the jury, leaving him with no option other than to plead guilty to murder.

In response to a significant increase in work levels, the Matrimonial Finance Team invites applications from excellent practitioners of all levels of seniority.

Applications will be treated in confidence and should be submitted to Paul Fletcher, Chambers Director (paul.fletcher@albionchambers.co.uk).

We are recognised as a leading set by the Legal 500 and top ranked by Chambers and Partners.

Albion Chambers is committed to equality and diversity.

We are delighted to have again been ranked as a top-ranked set in Chambers and Partners 2021 directory. We congratulate all our members whose excellence has been recognised. 

Adam Vaitilingam QC

Charles Hyde QC

In June, having undertaken the third trial to be held in Bristol Crown Court post-lockdown, I wrote about the differences between that and my last, pre-Covid trial.

In June, we used three courtrooms for each trial, the jury were dotted around the courtroom, they were addressed from the witness box and retired into another courtroom.

We are delighted to announce that Simranjit Kamal and Ehsanul Oarith have accepted invitations to become Tenants, following successful completion of their pupillages.

This now takes our number of members to 70.

We are delighted to announce that Sarah Regan and David Chidgey have been appointed as Crown Court Recorders with effect from 12 October 2020.

Chambers congratulates Sarah and David on their appointments.

We are proud to again be recognised as a Leading Set in the Legal 500 2021. The following 21 members have received recommendations:

Jackie Reid v The Good Health Store Limited 20/44- EET – (Isle of Man)