Jonathan Devlin
Year of call: 1978
areas of practice
synopsis
Jonathan has been a trial advocate in practice since 1979, having been called to the Bar in 1978.
He has developed a mainly criminal practice, although he has had considerable experience in civil litigation (personal injury, clinical negligence and professional negligence) and licensing. He is able to put the victims of crime, particularly those who have been the victims of sexual offences, at ease when explaining the Court process.
His criminal practice is divided between prosecution and defence instructions. He has been instructed by both prosecution and defence in cases of a broad level of gravity up to and including homicide. In prosecuting cases of homicide and serial rape he has borne the responsibility of assessing large quantities of unused material for the purposes of disclosure and Public Interest Immunity applications. In one case in particular (allegations of serial rape, murder and attempted murder), the offences covered a period of some 15 years, the investigations into which had generated tens of thousands of actions, messages, officers’ reports and other documents.
With a medical upbringing (both of his parents having been doctors in general practice), he has a particular interest in criminal and civil cases involving medical issues and causation.
He has particular expertise in cases involving allegations of child sex abuse (both current and historic) and cases involving the possession, making and distribution of indecent images of children.
He has both prosecuted and defended cases of infant homicide involving issues relating to the causation of brain injuries suffered by the victims.
Clinical negligence:
Negligence against hospitals, consultants, general medical practitioners and general dental practitioners concerning, by way of examples, failed sterilisation procedures, negligent orthopaedic treatment, negligent dental treatment, failures to diagnose illnesses or conditions such as meningitis and cancer, and the incorrect prescription of medication leading to either serious illness or death.
Crime:
Regularly instructed to prosecute and defend in cases of:
- Homicide
- Serious fraud
- Sexual allegations
- Kidnapping
- Robbery
- Drug offences
Expertise in cases involving similar fact evidence, joint enterprise, bad character, Public Interest Immunity and mental health.
Licensing
Represented local authorities and commercial organisations in ‘off’ and ‘on sale’ applications/appeals.
Regulatory work
Food Safety – defended principal defendant in 4 month trial concerning sale of unfit meat (chicken and turkey) into the human food chain – R v Boid & others.
Trade Descriptions
Prosecuted retired police superintendent and others for “pirating” 1000s of CDs - R v Stewart & others.
Road Traffic
Considerable experience of cases involving vehicle licensing/ drivers’ hours/ overloading and operators’ licenses.
notable cases
- R V Shanks & 8 Others : Teesside Crown Court, 1996: Fraud - £600,000 .
- R v Gaffney & Others : Sheffield Crown Court, 1996: Murder, described as the "execution by shooting of a police informer".
- R v D'Amato & Others : Bradford Crown Court, 1997: Conspiracy to Import Class A Drugs.
- R v Blackburn : Leeds Crown Court, 1998: Double Murder
- R v Barwell : Teesside Crown Court, 1999: Allegations of Serial Rape, Kidnapping Attempted Murder and Murder between early 1980s and 1990s
- R v Kershaw : Leeds Crown Court, 2000: Murder, "Shaken Baby Syndrome".
- R V Cooper : Sheffield Crown Court, 2000: Conspiracy To Evade The Duty On The Importation Of Cigarettes, Value £1m (Junior Alone).
- R v Boid & Others : Kingston upon Hull Crown Court, 2000: Conspiracy to defraud and to Contravene Food Safety Legislation - a trial involving the wholesale distribution of unfit meat into the human food chain.
- R v Pang & Hoang : Leeds Crown Court, 2001: Murder
- R v Southwart & Others : Leeds Crown Court, 2002: Commercial Fraud.
- R v Hargreaves : Leeds Crown Court, 2002: Murder
- Operation Ashford : Leeds Crown Court, 2002: The Prosecution of 26 defendants, charged in relation to Public Disorder in Leeds in June 2001. (Junior alone)
- R v Thompson : Leeds Crown Court, 2003: Trial involving series of armed robberies. (Junior alone).
- R v Bieber : Newcastle Crown Court, 2004: Murder of Leeds Police Constable Ian Broadhurst.
- R v Howden & Barrett : Leeds Crown Court, 2005: Murder of 3 year old girl
- R v Burns : Leeds Crown Court, 2005: Murder of sex worker, followed by dismemberment and burial of body. (Leading Junior).
- R v Brough & Others : Hull Crown Court, 2006: Conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. (Junior alone).
- R v Shah & Others : Newcastle Crown Court, 2006: Murder of Bradford Police Constable, Sharon
- R v Singh : Bradford Crown Court, 2007: Murder. (Junior alone).
- R v Hewitson & Others : Grimsby Crown Court, 2008: Rape, false imprisonment and Section 18 grievous bodily harm with intent - Vulnerable female victim. (Leading Junior).
- R v Mills : Sheffield Crown Court, 2008: Murder trial. (Junior alone).
- R v CKB Builders Ltd and others : Grimsby Crown Court, 2008: Neglect and ill-treatment of elderly, vulnerable care home patients by owners and staff.(Leading junior).
- R v Khan : Grimsby Crown Court, 2009: Child cruelty by Imam of local mosque. (Junior alone)
- R v Burns : Bradford Crown Court, 2009 - Bank Manager targeting sex workers and vulnerable females involving allegations of rape, false imprisonment and sexual assault.(Leading Junior)
- R v Brown : Leeds Crown Court, 2010: Familial rape and sexual abuse from 1960 to 2005 (Junior alone).
- R V Murray And Others : Bradford Crown Court,2011 : Arson At Transport Depot With Value Of £1m . (Junior Alone).
education
- LLB (Hons) (Leeds University) 1977
- Bar Finals 1978
- Rugby School 1968 - 1973
appointments
- As a former Carlisle City Councillor (2007-11), he engaged with his residents on a wide variety of matters. With his legal professional background,
- he was involved with the City Council's Standards Committee and has sat on Appeals' Panels to determine matters involving both Council staff and members of the public.
other information
- Jonathan has assisted in the training of prospective Senior Investigating Officers (SIOs) at West Yorkshire's Police Training School, Wakefield. As part of SIO development courses, he has lectured on the role of the prosecution advocate in major enquires, liaison between the prosecution advocate in major enquires, liaison between the prosecution advocate and the SIO and his or her team, issues of disclosure, PII, surveillance, the operation of RIPA and the effective presentation of evidence at trial.
