Defending allegations of serious and violent crime, including murder, conspiracy, drugs, weapons and terrorism.
Being investigated for, or charged with, conspiracy to supply drugs is a serious matter and often a confusing one, particularly for people who were never caught in possession of drugs or who never personally handed anything to anyone. That confusion is understandable. Conspiracy charges work differently from a straightforward supply offence, and the law allows […]
Read More… from Conspiracy to Supply Drugs: What You May Be Facing
The law on intentional strangulation Intentional strangulation was introduced as a specific offense under section 70 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, coming into force in June 2022. If you need advice, our serious violence defence can help. Prior to this, allegations involving pressure to the neck or restriction of breathing were typically prosecuted as: […]
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Consent is one of the most important concepts in criminal law, particularly in cases involving allegations of sexual offences.
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Read More… from Consent and the Law: Prosecuting A Rape Charge
There has been a soaring increase in passengers smuggling large quantities of cannabis to the UK through airport luggage. At the end of August 2024, 378 suspects had been detained for this crime, compared to 136 suspects in 2023, according to the National Crime Agency. That’s almost a threefold increase.
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Read More… from What happens if you’re caught smuggling cannabis into the UK?
‘Joint enterprise’ is a legal concept that means that people who helped in a crime in some way can be liable in the same way as if they had actually committed the crime.
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Read More… from Joint enterprise – are all parties liable for the acts of one?
In January 2023, the Government announced a crackdown against organised criminal gangs. In the latest concentrated operation, over 1,800 people were arrested to stifle the cross-border drugs supply in the UK.
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Read More… from County Lines drug cases – more arrests for cross border drugs supply
A criminal conspiracy is an agreement between people to carry out a criminal act.
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Read More… from Conspiracies – What is an agreement between persons to act together?
25 Mar Luton Crown Court 2021 Harewood Law acted for a principal defendant in a case concerning international drug conspiracy defence to import and supply class A and B drugs, associated money laundering, and possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition. The case was prosecuted and investigated by officers of the Organised Crime Partnership – a […]
Read More… from International conspiracies to import and supply drugs, firearms and money laundering
The prosecution offered no evidence at trial, in a case where Harewood Law’s client was charged with two counts of encouraging terrorism – a serious crime defence case contrary to section 1 Terrorism Act 2006. It transpired that their client was a young man whose mental health deteriorated during the covid pandemic and went undetected. […]
British and European Law enforcement agencies gained critical access to crypto-communications among organized crime groups, and significant insight into the manoeuvres and actions of various suspects involved, including many ‘Gangland Untouchables’ who “thought they would never be caught,”. It has dealt a major blow to organized crime groups in the UK and led to seizures […]
Read More… from Hundreds arrested as UK organised crime network is cracked
EncroChat unlocked: Gangland Untouchables exposed as police read secret texts of assassins and drug smugglers. This is a landmark moment in the battle between detectives and the criminals and cartels whose antics cause misery across Merseyside. Smashing through the previously impenetrable EncroChat messaging service is one of the biggest breakthroughs in the war on crime this century. […]
Read More… from Police gain real-time access to organised crime crypto communications
‘Marketed as the “world’s most secure handset,” ,’ banks, online shops, even WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption. What most people will see if they try and hack into the system is jumbled up data which is unintelligible. The phones have two modes; normal operating mode and encryption mode. Operation Venetic was described by the NCA as […]
Read More… from Inside top-secret £3k-a-year EncroChat phone system
Operations were carried out across Europe as a result of police accessing millions of messages sent using the encrypted messaging network, EncroChat. 746 suspected top tier criminals who are believed to be involved in murder, gun smuggling and drug trafficking crimes were arrested, 54 million in cash was seized and 1.45 tons of cocaine seized. […]
‘The gangland figures murdered the hits ordered on EncroChat: How killings of Salford’s ‘Mr Big’ Paul Massey and mob ‘fixer’ John Kinsella were called in using encrypted phone network’. Secret phone system EncroChat was used in some of the UK’s most notorious murders and crimes, it was revealed today. The shadowy underground network used by […]
A wave of arrests were made following a targeted hacking of EncroChat devices. A collaboration between UK, Irish and European Police agencies resulted in a “significant,” number of arrests being made, the seizure of 15 phones using EncroChat software and £360,000 in cash, in what has been described as the “largest and most significant enforcement […]
A huge amount of data has been obtained but it doesn’t necessarily establish criminality. Lawyers, Bankers, Family Offices may also use EncroChat or one of the many alternatives that’s still around. The use of EncroChat platform itself is not illegal; the contents of messages may point to criminality. Encrypted phones termed “modified,” or “hardened,” are […]
Read More… from Its goodbye from EncroChat. But it’s not goodnight.
Article by Harewood Law. EncroChat – What Happened? On the 13th June 2020, EncroChat, one of the world’s largest encrypted communication providers, sent a message to its 60,000 subscribers, 10,000 of whom were in the UK, informing them that their protected systems had been compromised. This coincided with the National Crime Agency (NCA) launching “Operation […]
