5 Paper Buildings is noted for having a ‘reputation for delivering a high quality service’ according to clients, with members appearing for the defence and prosecution in a range of very serious cases. In one of the highest-profile criminal cases of recent years, Deanna Heer KC prosecuted Axel Rudakubana for the murder of three primary school-age children in a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport; the defendant received a life term with a minimum of 52 years, the second-longest minimum term short of a whole-life tariff on a life sentence, notwithstanding that the defendant was seventeen at the time of the offence. Miranda Moore KC prosecuted a man who was charged with murder stemming from in incident for which he was already serving a sentence for GBH with intent, after a pedestrian who he had rammed with his car died, while Benjamin Douglas-Jones KC prosecuted a man who, as a struck-off paediatric surgeon, circumcised infants in unsanitary conditions and without anaesthesia.
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Profile
Work Department
Crime – corporate; crime – general; fraud: crime; consumer.
Position
As leader and junior, Ben defends and provides compliance advice to professional and corporate clients including PLCs. He prosecutes for the Serious Fraud Office, CPS Specialist Fraud Division (including medical regulation), Organised Crime and Special Crime Divisions, Appeals Unit and Proceeds of Crime Unit, and local authorities. Level 4 prosecutor. Specialist panels: Fraud, Serious Crime and Proceeds of Crime (London, South East and Wales). CPS Advocate Rape and Child Abuse List. Bribery: Operation Vectorial (matchfixing): Ben represented the first person ever acquitted of Bribery Act offence); SFO v BH ($2.7Bn bribery). Fraud: SFO v Evans (£170m Celtic Energy “fraud”): Ben represented the first Defendant in victories over the SFO in this “blockbuster” case; Operation Valgus (mortgage; over 1,000 mortgages); Operation Festival (complex tax); Abacus Trading (£40m invoice / banking); Operation Ernest (£110m factoring fraud); Operation Militia (botnet cyber fraud); SFO v OB [2014] UKSC 23 (Contempt; Extradition; Restraint; Specialty; Boiler-room Fraud). Consumer law including trademarks, copyright, medical, criminal planning, food safety and environmental health. Co-author Blackstone’s Guide to the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Human rights: Zaredar [2016] EWCA Crim 877; Boateng [2016] 2 Cr. App. R. 5; YY [2016] 1 Cr. App. R. 28; Mateta [2014] 1 WLR 1516 (asylum); J (2016 special court); L [2014] 1 All ER 113 and N and Le [2013] QB 379 (human trafficking) and Ewing [2016] 1 Cr. App. R. 32 (free speech); R (DPP) v Leicester [2016] 1 Cr. App. R. 5 (self-incrimination). Co-authored Human Trafficking CPS Guidance and Law Society Immigration Crime Guidance. Attorney in Grenada.
Career
Called 1998, Gray’s Inn.
Languages
French.
Memberships
Fraud Advisory Panel; Criminal bar Association; Fraud Lawyers Association.
Education
Taunton School, University of Reading (1996 LLB (Hons) Law), University of Wales (1999 MPhil Law).
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- '5 Paper Building is full of very able barristers, who have a reptuation for delivering a high quality service.'
- 'Strength throughout. Useful therefore for returns. Clerks very reliable and proactive.'
- 'The clerks will always go the extra mile to assist their instructing solicitors - always helpful and attentive.'
- 'A good criminal set with a talented mid-level.'
- 'Excellent chambers, very hardworking and personable clerks. '
- 'Strong throughout so helpful for returns.'
- 'My experience in dealing with this set of chambers has always been extremely positive - they have a very wide range of expertise and knowledge in all criminal matters. The clerks team is highly efficient and will always ensure the best counsel is available to cover any matters'
- 'Excellent set, very easy to deal with.'