John Warrington

Year of Call: 2000

Education / Qualifications

LLB (Hons.), Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London

Specialist practice areas

Financial crime
Asset Forfeiture & Confiscation
Crime
Regulatory

Profile

John practises exclusively in criminal law.   He specialises in white collar crime with an emphasis on fraud and money laundering (including all aspects of related restraint and proceeds of crime proceedings).   He also has significant experience in large-scale drug importation and distribution offences and serious organised gang crime.

An experienced trial advocate, John has appeared as a junior to Queen's Counsel and leading junior counsel in a number of high profile cases as well as conducting litigation in his own right.   He has recently acted in several fraud cases that have attracted widespread media attention.    In May 2007, John was appointed to the CPS Fraud Prosecution Division list of approved counsel.

John acts for both the prosecution and the defence, receiving regular instructions in matters involving homicide and serious violence, human trafficking, drugs, public order, robbery, firearms and other weapons, sexual offences and dishonesty.

Further, John has a specialist practice acting for local government and major national utilities companies in regulatory matters.    This involves both advisory and advocacy work in areas such as trading standards, infringement of trademarks, health and safety, food hygiene, planning, housing, noise and other nuisance, street works and the environment.   He has particular expertise in this context of matters involving bodies corporate as defendants in criminal proceedings.

John undertakes a significant amount of privately instructed criminal advisory and advocacy work, particularly within the music industry and press.

John is a qualified advocacy tutor and assists in the instruction of advocacy to pupil barristers and new practitioners.

Notable Cases

 R. v. H; R. v. D; R. v. Chaudhury

[2009] EWCA Crim. 2485; [2010] 3 Crim. L.R. 246; 1 Archbold Review, February 5, 2010

Court of Appeal guidance re text procedures and the statutory regime for sentencing discounts for informants pursuant to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

R. v. Greenwood & Others

Importation of three tonnes of cannabis (confiscation proceedings re £5 million)

 R. v. Morrison

Death by dangerous driving

 

R. v. Cartwright

High-value charity fraud committed by leader of local council 

R. v. Islam & Others

Large-scale conspiracy to supply Class A drugs involving 24 hour crack cocaine and heroin delivery service taking hundreds of telephone orders per day

R. v. Haddad & a company

Laundering in excess of £1 million (proceeds of a £13.2 million Danish carousel fraud)

R. v. Hui & Others

Sophisticated and organised prostitution of trafficked Eastern European females

R. v. Arthur & Another

Money laundering proceeds of £2.1 million tax credit fraud (also instructed in pre-charge restraint proceedings at the Central Criminal Court)

R. v. MakMultiple cannabis factories with annual yield of £1 million worth of product

R. v. Kent & Others

Systematic high-value money laundering of proceeds of large-scale missing trader intra-community fraud

R. v. Miners & Others

High-value NHS fraud by trust directors

R. v. Gilbert & Others

High-value fraud and corruption involving major financial services provider

R. v. Brissett & Others

Conspiracy to import £5 million worth of cocaine from multiple jurisdictions

R. v. Beresford & OthersMurder and conspiracy to commit GBH involving group attack with weapons

R. v. Ustel & Others

Laundering of several million pounds via hijacking of Middle Eastern ‘hawala’ or ‘trustee banking’ system

R. v. I

Retained by award winning recording artist and actress

R. v. B

Representation of Grammy award winning recording artist

Thames Water Utilities Limited v. LB Hammersmith and Fulham

Multiple warrants of entry re numerous local authority owned sites for purposes of surveying and engineering works (Government instructed project re large-scale extension of London sewer network)

Thames Water Utilities Limited v. J (a company)Discharge of toxic levels of sulphide into the sewerage network

 

Professional Memberships

Criminal Bar Association

Young Fraud Lawyers Association

South Eastern Circuit 

Kent Bar Mess

Languages

Fluent Maltese

Cases of note

David Cartwright T20080220 (Crown Court)
Fraud

Ashratal Islam & Ors N/A (Crown Court)
Conspiracy to Supply

Edward Hui & Ors N/A (Crown Court)
People Trafficking

Sally Arthur & Ors N/A (Crown Court)
Money Laundering

Kenneth Mak N/A (Crown Court)
Cannabis factories

Cheryl Kent N/A (Crown Court)
Money Laundering

John Miners N/A (Crown Court)
NHS Fraud

Brissett & Ors N/A (Crown Court)
Conspiracy to import drugs