Crime

Dermot undertook a common law pupillage and subsequently practised in personal injury and criminal law. For the last 15 years his practice has principally comprised work in the Crown Court. He has vast experience of defending in cases involving serious violence, sexual offences and drugs.

Dermot has appeared in substantial cases as a leading junior.

He represented the first defendant in South Yorkshire’s most prominent child sexual exploitation trial in recent times (R V RAZAQ), a case which lasted 9 weeks and which raised most of the difficulties associated with the cross-examination of vulnerable child witnesses.

Dermot also represented the first defendant in the 2014 CSE trial of R v SPENCER and others, a trial which spanned 10 weeks and which gave rise to widespread national media interest. The latter case involved the use of intermediaries and child psychologists.

The majority of Dermot’s work in the Crown Court revolves around cases involving allegations of the most serious sexual violence.

Cases

R v Morris: Secured acquittal of a man who was charged with assisting an offender. The principal defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The case was covered in the Sheffield Star.

R v Williams and others: Represented a custody sergeant charged with misconduct in public office, the allegation being that the sergeant had failed to act to protect a detained person who subsequently died in police custody. The case involved the analysis of the audio recording from the custody area. The evidence of the audio experts was discredited such that the case was withdrawn from the jury.

R v Razaq and others: Represented the first defendant on an indictment alleging the rape of a child. The case gave rise to an exceptional number of difficulties given the vulnerability of the complainants and the many other witnesses.

R v Spencer and others: Represented the first defendant on an indictment alleging dozens of serious CSE offences. The case generated a vast amount of material due to the fact that the investigation had been live for 4 years. The use of intermediaries presented special challenges to the Defence.

R v Massingham and one other: Represented the first defendant on an indictment which alleged that the defendants, serving police officers on a training exercise, caused death by dangerous driving. The case involved detailed reconstruction evidence. It also gave rise to issues of law due to the fact that the first defendant was not physically involved in the collision.

Sport, Media and Entertainment Law

Dermot sits on the FA Discrimination Panel. Dermot has experience of representing footballers before the disciplinary panel and in particular represented a former Premier League footballer before the FA when he was charged for selling his FA Cup Final tickets. Dermot has experience of representing other professional athletes in cases such as breach of contract claims.