Thomas Williams > Chambers of Simon Denison KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Tom is an experienced advocate appearing both for the prosecution and the defence in homicide and other serious criminal cases. His recent experience includes a convicted murderer’s ultimately unsuccessful attempt to mislead the Court of Appeal by fabricating an alibi long after his trial (R v Peter Jones & others, Basildon Crown Court, led by Kate Wilkinson); an armed robbery in Upminster which ended with the shooting of an eleven-year-old child (R v Antony Lascelles & others, Snaresbrook Crown Court, led by Alistair Richardson); a sophisticated conspiracy involving a corrupt police officer intercepting money paid to drug-dealers and cash-couriers, whilst he was wearing his police uniform and driving a marked police vehicle (R v Kashif Mahmood & others, Southwark Crown Court, led by Peter Ratliff); and a bomb hoax outside Downing Street during lockdown, shortly before the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, arrived to deliver one of the televised national COVID-19 briefings (R v Toby Champeney, Southwark Crown Court).

Tom has particular experience in terrorism prosecutions at the Central Criminal Court, including: the first police officer to be convicted of a terrorism offence (R v Benjamin Hannam, led by Dan Pawson-Pounds); a teenager in Essex who, immersed in right-wing propaganda during lockdown, became involved in the manufacture of two working guns with a 3D printer and arranging for a consignment of firearms to be sent to the UK in a shipping container (R v Matthew Cronjager, led by Alistair Richardson); and one of the oldest members of National Action, whose involvement in the extreme far-right group was only identified several years later (appearing alone at first instance and on appeal: R v David Musins [2022] EWCA Crim 1625).

Tom has appeared a number of times in the Court of Appeal, both on behalf of the defence and the Crown; in R v Anthony Kirsten [2020] EWCA Crim 1039, a successful appeal against sentence in which Tom was instructed on behalf of the defendant, the Court referred to his submissions as ‘persuasive’ and ‘admirably brief and to the point’.

Finally, Tom is experienced in dealing with driving offences in the magistrates’ court, for instance when the court is considering a discretionary or a totting-up disqualification; in the past he has advanced a number of successful exceptional hardship arguments.