Trevor Siddle > Chambers of Sally O’Neill and Michael Holland KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Trevor Siddle

Position

Called 1991

Career

Trevor is a very experienced criminal defence barrister, whose practice encompasses the full range of serious crime including murder; manslaughter; rape; large scale fraud; armed robbery; kidnap; extortion and drugs. He has acted as leading junior in numerous multi-handed conspiracies and has been instructed for the defence as both leading and led juniorin high profile murder cases. Trevor also has a thriving Court of Appealpractice and is frequently instructed in post conviction referralson behalf of clients from all over the country.

In 2019, Trevor successfully appealed a defendant’s multiple convictions for historic offences of rape and other sexual assaults before the Court of Appeal, thereby quashing a 14-year sentence of imprisonment. He was also leading junior counselfor a Defendant charged with the murder of a man in a 24-hour convenience store, following an argument over a cigarette. Trevor secured acquittals for defendants in multi-handed cases of fraud and money laundering. In one such case, Trevor successfully defended a manager at Network Rail, charged with the systematic fraud of the company, by awarding NR contracts to his own company. Most recently, Trevor has secured the acquittal of a defendant charged with aggravated burglary, following a brutal hammer attack on the occupier of residential premises in the dead of night, where the defence was that the complainant had wrongfully identified his cousin. Upcoming cases include a multi-handed attempted murder (by shooting) where Trevor has been instructed to represent the first Defendant and also the blackmail of a prominent person in public life.

In 2018, Trevor represented the Appellant in the attempted murder appeal of R-v-Taj, where a 5 person Court of Appeal considered whether a trial judge was right to remove self-defence/defence of others due to a genuinely held mistaken belief by a defendant, who had claimed that he had attacked a motorist on the Albert Embankment in London, believing him to be a terrorist in possession of a roadside bomb. In a landmark judgment, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, ruling that the trial judge was right to remove the statutory defence under section 76(4) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, where the mistaken belief was induced by past voluntary consumption of drugs and alcohol which subsequently triggered a temporary ‘’psychotic state’’ (See s76(5) of the CJIA 2008). The case has attracted considerable academic interest and is widely reported.

Trevor is tenacious in court, with a forthright, no nonsense style of advocacy. He is known for taking all arguable points of law in his client’s defence. Trevor has a loyal following among his professional clients. His easy, disarming manner appeals to clients from all walks of life.