Apex Chambers

Called to the Bar of England & Wales 2000

Appointed as King’s Counsel 2019

Practice areas

Serious crime, white collar fraud and international criminal law

Jonathan has a heavyweight practice in international, white collar, complex and serious crime. He is highly regarded as a specialist in regulatory prosecutions has an outstanding reputation for representing police officers in criminal proceedings, acting successfully in the UK’s biggest police corruption trial. Jonathan’s case history includes defending in the first trial proceedings before the Trial Chamber of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague; appearing as the first Appellant in the first appeal proceedings before the Court of Appeals Panel of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers; defending in proceedings for the murder of an adopted infant daughter by a gay father (national media publicity and complex medical evidence (re ‘non-accidental head injury’ case); defending in a £35 million international money laundering prosecution involving cross-jurisdictional evidence (England, Netherlands, China and Pakistan); defending in a £170 million ‘blockbuster’ SFO fraud case, involving complex issues of planning law, mineral law, local government law, company law and international law resulting in defendant’s acquittal and an order that the SFO pay costs in excess of £3m; successfully defending a former police Inspector accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in relation to a murder investigation in 1988-1990 which resulted in three men being convicted for the murder of a prostitute in Cardiff following alleged forging of witness statements and the use of oppression; prosecuting an international prostitution ring, involving Nigeria, South Africa, Mozambique, Bulgaria, the Republic of Ireland, and UK, leading a cross-jurisdictional team, with investigators from the Garda, the PSNI and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, resulting in a hidden assets confiscation order and a total of 17 years’ imprisonment for main offender; and defending a British soldier accused of abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Bread Basket Camp, Basra during the second Iraq war.

Current instructions

R v Rowan & others, Southwark Crown Court – appearing on behalf of the first defendant in a 5-handed prosecution by the Financial Conduct Authority concerning an alleged £4 million fraudulent scheme to sell bulk water rights to UK investors relating to sites in Namibia, New Zealand and Australia

R v Gordon, Baptiste, Huntley, Mills-Smith, Quailey-Dashper, Ginova, Porter, Manne, Cooper & Kelleher, Cardiff Crown Court – prosecuting a 10-handed murder trial, relating to the gangland shooting of a woman in a revenge attack against a rival organised criminal group trading drugs in the same territory

R v Berry, Mills & Thomas, Swansea Crown Court – prosecuting a conspiracy to murder planned by a wife and her ex-military lover, intending to asphyxiate her husband using gas, and leaving a false suicide note to cover their tracks

R v Prett & others, Snaresbrook Crown Court – defendant alleged to have conspired to defraud the London Legacy Development Corporation in a corrupt procurement exercise relating to the former 2012 Olympic site in Stratford, London

Specialist Prosecutor v Hashim Thaci et al, Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the Hague – indictment alleges that Thaçi, the former President of Kosovo coordinated three distinct groups, formed with Smakaj, Fazliu and Kilaj, and other uncharged individuals, and with Kuçi, in an aim to interfere with the testimonies of SPO witnesses in the ongoing Thaçi et al war crimes trial. Appears for the second defendant, the former director of the Kosovo Intelligence Service, Bashkim Smakaj

Recent instructions

R v Ashton Evans & others, Central Criminal Court – terrorism prosecution relating to the Russian-ordered arson attack on a London warehouse full of supplies destined for Ukraine and surveillance on two further targets in Mayfair. Appeared for the defence.

R v Mark Roberts & others, Bristol Crown Court – appeared for the first defendant in five-handed murder trial relating to the killing of a man mistakenly suspected of being a paedophile in Somerset

Specialist Prosecutor v Sabit Januzi & Ismet Bahtjari, Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the Hague – defendant charged with intimidation (threats to kill a witness and family) and obstruction in relation to the prosecution of the former President of Kosovo in Specialist Prosecutor v Hashim Thaci & others

Re Xi Jinping, CCW, the Hague – led the prosecution by a UK, US and Australian team before the CCW people’s tribunal seeking confirmation of an indictment (case to answer) against President Xi Jinping of the PRC on charges of the crime of aggression towards Taiwan, crimes against humanity directed at the civilian people of Tibet and crimes against humanity and genocide directed at the civilian Uyghur people

R v Steven Chappell, Cardiff Crown Court – defendant charged with murder/manslaughter with complex causation issue relating to development of sepsis following discharge from hospital with a broken rib, appeared for prosecution

Appointments

Recorder of the Crown Court of England & Wales

Memberships

Chair of the Legal Wales Foundation, 2022 – present

Chair of the Dispute Resolution Centre Wales, 2023 - present

Bencher at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple (Master of the Wales Circuit), 2020 - present

Member of the CBA Executive Committee, 2012 – present

Treasurer of the Wales & Chester Circuit, 2020 - 2022

Member of the Bar Council of England and Wales, 2020 – 2022

Admitted to the List of Counsel eligible to practise before the International Criminal Court

Admitted to the List of Specialist Counsel eligible to practise before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers established to exercise jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under Kosovo law which allegedly occurred between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2000

1996-1999 Cambridge University, Jesus College: Law MA Hons (Cantab) 1st Class, Foundation Scholarship