Edwards Duthie Shamash successfully appealed the conviction of a young man accused of assaulting an elderly gentleman in the Dagenham area in 2011.

Having been convicted after a retrial (the first jury being undecided), the Court of Appeal ruled that the jury had been misdirected on the issue of self-defence.

Citing the principle laid down in the Privy Council case of DPP (Jamaica) v Bailey 1 Cr. App. R. 257, Phillip Law successfully argued that self defence should have been left to the jury despite the defence case being one of alibi. Expressing some sympathy for the Learned Judge’s position in the Crown Court, the Court of Appeal acknowledged that Mr Law’s submission accurately represented the position in the authorities.

Phillip Law was the litigator and the advocate at both trials and al hearings in the Court of Appeal.