Jonathan Rees KC > Chambers of Jonathan Laidlaw KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Jonathan Rees KC

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Position

At the end of July 2020, Jonny was appointed as Director of Service Prosecutions and took up his new role on 2 November 2020. Please read more about this announcement here.

Currently listed by both Chambers and the Legal 500 in the first division of criminal silks, Jonathan has developed an enviable reputation for his courtroom manner and his ability to communicate effectively with judges and juries alike.

During his 13 years as Treasury Counsel at the Old Bailey, he developed a wealth of experience prosecuting some of the most notorious cases of the day including, for example, the ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ scam, the ‘Freddy Krueger’ killer, the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common, the murder of PC Patrick Dunne, various terrorism cases, cases involving infanticide, gang-related murders, police corruption and misconduct in public office.

Since relinquishing his appointment as Senior Treasury Counsel at the end of 2015, Jonathan has concentrated on using his formidable experience of serious and complex cases to develop his criminal defence practice. With a background in science, he has particular expertise in cases involving DNA evidence and edits a chapter devoted to this topic in the leading text book on sexual offences.

Jonathan is currently instructed for the prosecution and the defence in a wide range of cases featuring allegations of murder, terrorism, white-collar fraud and historic sexual abuse. Many of his cases continue to attract national media attention. Recent cases include Honey Rose, an optometrist charged with gross negligence manslaughter; Stephen Port, the ‘Grindr’ serial killer; Damon Smith, the student who planted an IED on a tube train; Rolf Harris, the entertainer; Darren Osborne, the man who carried out the Finsbury Park terror attack; the rape and murder of 14 year old Viktorija Sokolova; and the murder of Tashan Daniel on the London Underground. In addition, Jonathan has experience of inquests, appearing on behalf of the family of the deceased.

Jonathan was chosen to be one of a panel of three experts who went to China to provide advice to the Supreme People’s Court on the reform of their People’s Assessors System. He is committed  to ethnic minority achievement and is a governor of a large secondary school in Southall, West London.

Career

• Year of Call: 1987
• Treasury Counsel: 2002-2015
• Senior Treasury Counsel: 2008-2015
• Appointed King’s Counsel: 2012
• Former member of the Remuneration Committee of the Bar Council
• Director of Service Prosecutions: 2020

Memberships

• South Eastern Circuit
• Criminal Bar Association

Education

Cardiff High School, Stowe and Jesus College, Oxford