Three recent criminal law cases.
Recent acquittals achieved by the Moss & Co criminal team include a grave rape case where the defendant having absconded was tried in his absence. Our client was the only one of 5 defendants to be acquitted on an indictment which contained 7 counts. Laura O’Brien conducted this case.
Another notable success was a for a client accused of a racially aggravated public order offence. A conviction would have led to the loss of their career and livelihood. Keith Hollywood carried out a meticulous preparation, including arranging for evidence to be given by 7 character witnesses form very different ethnic backgrounds. Such was the impact of the defence evidence that the Judge stopped our closing submissions after a few words to say that he had heard enough and duly found our client not guilty and awarded costs.
A benefit claimant accused of a £70,000 plus fraud was facing a prison term which the guidelines seemed to indicate was inevitable. Our client had claimed whilst not disclosing savings. Laura spent quite some time going through bank statements to show that it was plausible that all the savings in his account were from his benefits. Essentially he was overpaid because he didn’t spend enough of his benefits resulting in him having too much by way of savings. Once he had repaid half the overpayment he was entitled to benefits again.By careful analysis of entitlements excluding the fraud and repayment of part off the sum overpaid we were able to persuade the court to impose a conditional discharge. After making a payment to the DWP our client’s savings had reduced to a level allowing him to claim benefits legitimately. Expertise in both Welfare benefits and criminal law can be a powerful tool on our client’s behalf.
![P029-MossCo-200x300[1]](https://mosslaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/P029-MossCo-200x3001-150x150.jpg)
Laura O’Brien Criminal Law expert

Keith Hollywood criminal law expert