Clerking team

Louise Gold

Lead Clerk, Crime

Jessica Bull

Junior Clerk, Crime

Jack Paxton

Junior Clerk, Crime

Ella is a specialist criminal advocate with experience both prosecuting and defending in the Crown Court and in the Magistrates’ Court.

She has been praised for the quality and efficacy of both her oral and written advocacy by members of the judiciary, and described as calm and confident, both in court and when speaking with clients.

Ella is a CPS Grade 2 Prosecutor.

Ella also works with the charity Schools Consent Project, giving talks to students in schools and football academies about the law on sex and consent. She recently gave workshops for the U18 and U21 players at Sunderland AFC Academy of Light.

Crown Court & appeals

Ella is frequently instructed on cases in the Crown Court. She has both prosecuted and defended Crown Court trials, as well as appearing regularly in committals for sentence, PTPHs, bail applications and sentences. She also often acts on behalf of the Probation Service, including having been entrusted to advise the Probation Service in relation to their policy on the extension of unpaid work requirements.

Cases

  • R v SR, 2024: Defended at PTPH and sentence a client who entered a Guilty plea to escape from lawful custody. Successfully argued in favour of a suspended sentence.
  • R v GS, 2024: Prosecuted at trial a Defendant charged with fraud by way of making multiple bank transactions removing money from the bank account of a vulnerable victim. Secured a Guilty plea on the day of trial after requesting further Prosecution evidence that was key to resolution.
  • R v DB, 2023: Defended at trial a client charged with controlling and coercive behaviour, assault occasioning ABH, intentional suffocation and common assault. Included dealing with applications for specific disclosure, admission of defence hearsay evidence, and bad character argument.
  • R v JM, 2023: Defendant at sentence a defendant who had entered a Guilty plea to theft of £500,000 worth of road surfacing equipment. Ella’s submissions assisted her client in avoiding immediate custody, instead securing a suspended sentence.
  • R v NA, 2023: Prosecuted a Defendant charged with carrying out a bomb hoax at the Northern General Hospital. A complex sentencing exercise involving consideration of a range of case law. The Defendant received a sentence of two and a half years’ immediate imprisonment. The incident was reported in the local media.
  • R v PM, 2023: Prosecuted at trial a Defendant charged with assault of an emergency worker.
  • R v CM, 2023: Prosecuted at sentence a Defendant charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on the Complainant as a result of a single punch on a night out. Involved careful consideration of a range of evidence from different perspectives.

Magistrates Court

Ella has a wide scope of experience prosecuting and defending in the magistrates’ court. When prosecuting, she has secured convictions in a range of cases, from domestic violence prosecutions to acquisitive crime and driving matters.

Ella has represented several defendants in successfully advancing exceptional hardship or special reasons arguments to avoid driving disqualification following motoring offences.

Cases

  • R v DB, 2024: Prosecuting. Secured conviction of a Defendant charged with careless driving following a road traffic collision causing significant damage to three other vehicles. Involved cross examination on alleged mechanical defect of the vehicle driven by the Defendant.
  • R v SN, 2024: Represented at first hearing a client charged with causing injury by careless driving. Client thought to be unfit to plead, and so involved legal research and submissions on whether defence counsel could elect Crown Court trial on his behalf as part of the allocation process.
  • R v PO, 2023: Newton hearing in relation to a sexual assault on a 19-year-old victim by a Defendant in his 80s. Following Ella’s careful witness handling of both a young and distressed Complainant and an elderly Defendant, alongside thorough presentation of the case including several previous consistent statements made by the Complainant, the court found in favour of the Crown’s factual basis.
  • R v NB: Secured a conviction after trial in a harassment case spanning months of unwanted online and telephone contact.
  • R v PB, 2023: Represented a Defendant charged with failure to provide a specimen of breath for analysis. Involved legal argument on whether in this particular context, the Defendant had a reasonable excuse for failing to provide if police officers initially accepted his medical excuse given at the time of arrest and allowed him to stop the procedure partway through.
  • R v RY, 2023: Instructed by Bassetlaw District Council to prosecute a littering offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Education

Ella studied French with English Literature at King’s College London, graduating with a First Class Honours degree. As part of that degree, she completed a year abroad in France teaching English in a French high school.

She then went on to secure a ‘Distinction’ on the GDL law conversion course and a ‘Very Competent’ on the Bar Course.

During her legal studies, Ella completed an internship with the death penalty charity Amicus ALJ UK, assisting with discovery and analysis of large volumes of evidence in relation to death penalty cases in the US alongside assisting in a study monitoring the implementation of the death penalty in the judicial districts of Florida. She also volunteered supporting complainants of crime at Victim Support UK and assisted with notetaking for self-represented doctors in the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service.

Scholarships

  • Exhibition Scholarship, Honourable Society of the Inner Temple (2021)
  • Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Award, Inner Temple (2021)
  • BPP GDL Career Commitment Scholarship (2020)  

Memberships

  • The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
  • Amicus ALJ UK
  • The Schools Consent Project UK
  • The Criminal Bar Association