Nicola is an experienced Crown Court advocate and is accustomed to receiving both prosecution and defence instructions.
Nicola was born and raised in the Sheffield area and then studied Law at Magdalen College, Oxford. She was called to the Bar in 2001 and completed pupillage at 18 Red Lion Court, London before moving back to Sheffield and joining Chambers in 2002.
Nicola is accredited to receive instructions directly from members of the public through the Public Access Scheme.
Click here to view our Public Access pages and details of the process for instructing public access accredited barristers.
Crown Court & appeals
Nicola has prosecuted and defended a wide variety of offences from rape to importation of drugs, burglary to serious assaults. She is a member of the CPS rape panel and regularly prosecutes in cases involving sexual offences, including those of an historic nature and those involving child complainants.
She has been junior counsel in murder trials including disclosure junior in a multi-handed gang murder in Sheffield.
She is experienced in dealing with offences involving child witnesses and other vulnerable witnesses.
Cases
- R v Absolom Sigiyo, Romulad Houphouet & Jacek Brzozwski: Led by Gordon Stables in a 5-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court for a number of offences including rape over a period of six months. Sentenced to 20 years and 18-and-a-half years respectively. This case was reported in The Guardian, the Daily Mail, Sky News, the CPS and various other news outlets.
- R v Alan Beecroft. Prosecuted a man who was charged with sexually assaulting a child. Beecroft, already serving a jail term for other offences, was convicted of 11 counts of indecent assault and sentenced to a further six years and nine months in prison. The case was covered in the Doncaster Free press.
- R v William Abrahams. Prosecuted a pensioner who was found guilty of multiple historic sex offences against young girls. Abrahams was found guilty of six counts of indecency with a child, three counts of rape and five counts of sexual assault, and jailed for 20 years. The case was reported in the Sheffield Star and on the South Yorkshire Police Facebook page.
- R v David Jamfrey. Prosecuted a paedophile who was jailed for 10 years and nine months. The case was reported on the BBC local news website.
- Prosecution junior in a multi-handed case involving allegations of child sexual offences committed in the Rotherham area against vulnerable young girls which was widely reported in the national press.
- Prosecuted a violent disorder involving eleven defendants which took place in a public house where the complainant sustained multiple injuries.
- Prosecuted a case involving child complainants where there were allegations of rape and assault by penetration, including penetration with objects such as baseball bats and aerosol cans.
- Prosecuted possession with intent to supply cocaine trial where a significant amount of high purity cocaine was found hidden on common ground close to the defendant’s house. The defendant could only be linked to the drugs through inference from money in his house and mobile telephones.
- Successfully defended an assault alleged to have been perpetrated upon a prison guard.
Memberships
- CBA
