Edmund Burge

Year of Call: 1997

Education / Qualifications

BA (Hons) in PPE from York University (1990)

Dip. Law from BPP Law School (1996)
            Sir Thomas More Award (Lincoln’s Inn)

BVC from Inns of Court School of Law (1997)
            Buchanan Prize (Lincoln’s Inn)
            Ede & Ravenscroft Prize
 

Specialist practice areas

Financial crime
Serious & organised crime
Asset Forfeiture & Confiscation
Crime

Profile

Edmund is a specialist criminal advocate whose practise consists of prosecuting and defending the most serious offences.  He has substantial experience in cases of murder, rape and other serious violent and sexual offences, and of handling difficult and vulnerable witnesses such as children and the mentally unwell. 

He has particular expertise in matters of organised and financial crime, such as large-scale drugs importations, money laundering, arms trafficking & brokering, corruption and fraud, and in cases that raise complex issues of jurisdiction, disclosure, and public interest immunity.  He is regularly instructed in ‘document heavy’ cases such as fraud and other commercial crime, and in matters involving specialist and technical evidence. In addition to advocacy in substantive offences, he provides advice and representation in proceedings for ancillary matters such as asset forfeiture and confiscation.

He is instructed by numerous defence solicitors and, amongst others, the CPS, the Fraud Prosecution Division, Revenue & Customs Prosecutions, and the Serious Fraud Office.  He is also one of the Attorney-General’s Special Advocates for cases involving allegations of terrorism and matters of national security. 

In 2007 he was elected Junior to the Kent Bar Mess

Prior to coming to the Bar Edmund was a civil servant at the Office of Fair Trading, where he was involved in investigating and prosecuting cartels, price-fixing and other anti-competitive practices.

Professional Memberships

Criminal Bar Association
S.E. Circuit
Kent Bar Mess.

Cases of note

R v Teal and Jones (Crown Court)
The illegal export of para-military equipment from the UK to Iraq and elsewhere in the middle-east.

R v Osman and others (Crown Court)
Conspiracy to facilitate the international movement of illegal immigrants.

R v H (Crown Court)
Historic allegations of the serious and repeated sexual abuse of a 14 year old with cerebral palsy.

R v Smith (Crown Court)
The importation of over 60kg of amphetamine.

R v Sarig & Freckleton (Crown Court)
The illegal supply of weaponry (automatic guns, aircraft ammunition and bombs) from Eastern Europe to Asia and Africa and South America.

R v Johnson & Owolabi (Crown Court)
Laundering the proceeds of over £500,000 in Tax Credit fraud, involving over 75 false identities and 80 bank accounts.

R v Claydon and Muffet (Crown Court)
The importation of 150 kg of cocaine.