cell site

This involved the contract killing of a well known member of the criminal underworld. It was suspected that this was the latest murder connected to the ongoing disputes and fallout from the Brinks Mat gold bullion case. The case rested almost entirely on cell site evidence and the defendant’s DNA found on a cigarette butt at the scene.

The victim was lured to a country lane and shot by a masked gunman with a sten gun. He was in front of his wife and child. The execution was ordered due to a drug related debt. The defendant was one of four defendants and was said to be the getaway driver for his close friend Wayne Collins who was the gunman. The defendant was acquitted after a 3 month trial at the Central Criminal Court. The other 3 defendants were convicted and received life sentences with minimum terms of 33-30 years. The trial involved a wealth of expert evidence from the usual DNA, fingerprints and cell site analysis to the more unusual of a use of a palynology expert (pollen and plant analysis).

Leading counsel in the trial and retrial. The client opted to remain in custody for an additional 6 months to wait for a date when Stephen was available. The Crown’s case was that the murder was a drugs killing. It involved the challenging of DNA, call data, cell site, fibres and blood splatter evidence.

The defendant was charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm. The Crown’s case was that the defendant had gone to a rival’s property where drugs were stored with the intention of stealing them. During the robbery one of the occupants of the premises was shot in the head but survived. The defendant did not deny being at the address during that night but maintained he knew nothing of the shooting and that it must have happened minutes after he had left. The crown relied on an expert in cell site analysis who had concluded that the defendant’s mobile telephone was at the scene of the shooting at the exact time. After detailed and lengthy cross examination of the expert it was shown that in fact the opposite was true and the defendant’s telephone (along with the defendant) had left the scene approximately 6 minutes before the shooting occurred . The defendant was acquitted.

£53m armed robbery and kidnapping. A seven month trial at the Old Bailey representing one of the armed gang said to have kidnapped the manager of the Securitas Depot in Kent, his wife and 8 year old child. Members of the gang wearing prosthetic disguises and dressed as policemen stopped the manager on his way home from work and took him to a farm where his wife and child were being held having been kidnapped from their home again by members of the gang dressed as policemen. Stephen Vullo conducted all of the very substantial cross-examination in respect of cell site analysis. The Crown’s expert gave evidence for over 2 weeks. He also dealt with all the cross-examination of the forensic scientist on the issue of low copy number (LCN) DNA profiling.