Benjamin Newton KC

Practice Areas

Financial, Regulatory and Business Crime

Benjamin is consistently instructed in relation to substantial allegations of fraud and money laundering, and regulatory matters of a financial nature.

He studied economics to degree level and is confident in dealing with cases involving the financial markets. From 2016 to 2020 he acted for one of the former Barclays traders accused of manipulating the Euribor rate (R v P, Southwark Crown Court).

He has recently acted for an alleged participant in a conspiracy to launder £7.2m of fraudulently obtained payments (R v A, Southwark Crown Court), and a foreign exchange markets trader accused of defrauding investors (R v B, Bournemouth Crown Court).

Other cases in recent years include the first of three defendants accused of conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to direct payments for personal care (R v N, St Albans Crown Court), a highly respected jeweller accused of fraud in the course of his trade (R v L, Wood Green Crown Court), a marketing executive accused of fraud by abuse of position (R v D, Kingston Crown Court), and one of eight defendants alleged to have misled investors through the sale of carbon credits and diamonds in a multi-million pound ‘boiler room’ fraud (R v A, Southwark Crown Court).

Benjamin is frequently instructed on behalf of professionals. He recently acted for a company director accused of using a prohibited name following liquidation of a company contrary to s216(3) Insolvency Act 1986 (R v B, Westminster Magistrates Court). He previously defended an accountant against whom allegations of fraud and forgery were dismissed following a submission of no case to answer and in whose favour a wasted costs order was made against the CPS (R v J, Southwark Crown Court), and also a company financial controller who was privately prosecuted for fraud and theft of over £1.5m (R v L, St Albans Crown Court).

Benjamin also has experience in licensing matters and in cases brought by the Health and Safety Executive.

Serious Sexual Offences

Benjamin has vast experience in cases relating to the most serious allegations of sexual offending, including cases attracting publicity and requiring careful and delicate conduct both in and out of court. He is also consistently instructed to provide those who have been convicted with fresh advice on appeal.

He is currently instructed for the first of two defendants accused of rape having followed a woman home (R v M, Croydon Crown Court). Recent cases include an alleged rape at the Notting Hill Carnival (R v J, Isleworth Crown Court), a father accused of sexually assaulting his daughter’s friend (R v B, Guildford Crown Court), historic allegations of rape of a child (R v M, Snaresbrook Crown Court), commercial-scale controlling of prostitution (R v D, Woolwich Crown Court), and an allegation of sexually assaulting an emergency worker (R v A, Chelmsford Crown Court).

Benjamin has previously acted in cases involving: a masseur accused of sexually assaulting clients (R v M, Inner London Crown Court), a step-father accused of historic allegations of abuse against his step-sons (R v S, Maidstone Crown Court), a couple who abused a young child (R v D, Woolwich Crown Court), alleged multiple rapes of a woman with disabilities (R v T, Harrow Crown Court), accusations of historic familial sexual abuse (R v Y, Isleworth Crown Court), a retired home tutor accused of sexually assaulting a child (R v B, Central Criminal Court), a defendant extradited from Canada in relation to allegations of rape and sexual assault of his niece (R v S, Woolwich Crown Court), teenage boys accused of a gang rape on a school friend (R v H, Croydon Crown Court), and cousins accused of systemic sexual abuse of younger family members (R v A, Warwick Crown Court).

Homicide

Benjamin is frequently instructed to defend in cases of murder, attempted murder, and manslaughter at first instance and in advice on appeal.

He is currently instructed for the first of two defendants accused of beating a man to death (R v M, Harrow Crown Court, leading Maryam Mir), the first of two defendants accused of a fatal stabbing (R v W, leading Zaki Hashmi), and the fourth of eight defendants in relation to a fatal shooting (R v C, leading Alexia Nicol).

Previous cases include the alleged murders of: a mother by the father of three young children - a highly complex ‘missing body’ case (R v L, Woolwich Crown Court), an associate in a fight resulting from an online feud (R v A, Central Criminal Court), an innocent bystander in the beer garden of a public house on Borough High Street in London (R v A, Central Criminal Court), and a girlfriend through the infliction of over a hundred knife wounds (R v A, Central Criminal Court).

He also has experience in complex gross-negligence manslaughter cases, including the death of a restrained customer by three nightclub doormen through positional asphyxiation (R v R, Central Criminal Court), and the death of a patient following a surgical procedure (R v P, Central Criminal Court).

Benjamin also regularly acts in case relating to road traffic fatalities, most recently representing a woman who had knocked over an elderly man at a junction resulting in his death (R v Y, Harrow Crown Court).

Terrorism

Benjamin has appeared in numerous significant terrorism cases, recently representing a female ‘lone wolf’ who had planned a suicide attack at St Paul’s Cathedral (R v S, Central Criminal Court), and the founder of the right-wing proscribed group National Action (R v D, Central Criminal Court).

He also acted in two lengthy trials for the first of five defendants alleged to have continued in their membership of a proscribed organisation, contrary to s11 Terrorism Act 2000 (R v J, Birmingham Crown Court).

Benjamin has previously acted for a serial offender in relation to dissemination of terrorist material and encouraging acts of terrorism (R v N, Newcastle Crown Court), and a defendant involved in a multi-handed confidence fraud targeting retired individuals across the south of England that was dubbed the ‘Bank of Terror’ and tried at the Central Criminal Court due to alleged connections to ISIS.

Serious Criminal Offences

Benjamin is consistently instructed to act for defendants charged with the most serious of offences across the criminal spectrum and is specifically sought to represent individuals charged with unusual offences.

He recently acted for a retired nurse who was tried for sending threatening communications to members of the House of Lords in support of the Assisted Dying Bill (R v O, Southwark Crown Court). Earlier examples included the three-month trial of twenty allegations of perverting the course of justice in relation to serious sexual offences (R v B, Bristol Crown Court), and the first trial on indictment without a jury – a £1.75m armed robbery at Heathrow Airport (R v C, Central Criminal Court).

Criminal Appeals

In addition to first instance cases Benjamin is frequently instructed to advise on fresh appeals and applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and regularly appears in the Court of Appeal. He is a contributor to Taylor on Criminal Appeals, edited by Paul Taylor.

Current cases include the appeals of two environmental activists who were convicted of crimes instigated by an undercover police officer, several fresh appeals for individuals convicted of sexual offences, and numerous victims of trafficking convicted without recognition of their true status.

From 2012 to 2021 Benjamin advised and acted for twelve building workers convicted of offences following the first national building workers strike in 1972 (the ‘Shrewsbury Pickets’ case).

As well as cases before the Court of Appeal, Benjamin has expertise in criminal-related judicial review, such as the quashing and remittal of a sentence due to procedural unfairness in R (on the application of Gatenby) v Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court [2017] EWHC 3772 (Admin).

Career

Benjamin defends those accused of the most serious and complex criminal offences, and regularly appears in high profile and legally significant cases. He is frequently instructed in relation to allegations of financial crime, homicide, and serious sexual offences, but has substantial expertise across all areas of criminal law. In addition to criminal trials, he regularly advises on and conducts fresh criminal appeals, and has experience in extradition, courts martial proceedings, and criminal-related public law. He also sits as a Recorder in the Crown Court and a judge in the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health).

Publications

Benjamin is co-editor of Human Rights in Criminal Law (Bloomsbury 2023) and has previously contributed chapters to Human Rights in the Investigation and Prosecution of Crime, edited by Jonathan Cooper OBE and Madeleine Colvin, and Taylor on Criminal Appeals, edited by Paul Taylor.