Complex Casework Unit

The Complex Casework Unit (CCU) prosecutes the most serious, complex and high profile cases from across Wessex. The unit is made up of specialist lawyers, paralegal officers and administrators, each with a wealth of experience and specialist knowledge.

The unit is also responsible for enforcing court orders to recover the assets of criminals.

The Wessex CCU is headed by Ian Harris.

Types of cases taken on by the CCU

• Organised crime, including serious drug-related offences with substantial importation, manufacture or supply
• Cases with higher than average numbers of defendants or victims
• Serious abuse or human trafficking
• Historical cases
• Complex fraud cases that cross the borders between our Counties
• Complex or unusual aspects to the police investigation
• Cases that are particularly sensitive to local communities

Recent cases

Murder-Danilo Restivo - You will never be released from prison. Take him down, were the last words Danilo Restivo heard from Mr Justice Burnett as he commenced his life sentence for the murder of Heather Barnett at her home in Bournemouth on 12 November 2002.

The investigation had taken over 7 years and had taken police officers from
Dorset to Potenza, a mountain town in Southern Italy.

Heather Barnett was a popular seamstress who lived in Charminster with her two children, aged 11 and 14 at the time of her murder. She had been attacked from behind with an implement such as a hammer; and her dead body had been dragged a short distance to the bathroom where it was mutilated with a sharp knife.

Her hair had been cut and some of it placed under her left hand and a lock of someone elses hair had been placed in her right hand. The source of that hair was never identified but it was to lead the police to Restivo.

Danilo Restivo had come to England from the mountain town of Potenza in Southern Italy to learn English and get a job. He stayed with an Italian woman who lived opposite Heather, to whom she introduced him.

Restivo was discovered to have a fetish about hair when he was identified as a man who had, without their consent, been cutting womens hair on buses in the Bournemouth area. An appeal through the Italian equivalent of Crimewatch revealed that Restivo had a history of covertly cutting womens hair in Italy as well.

Importantly, he was associated with the disappearance of a teenage girl, Elisa Claps, in Potenza in September 1993. He had been convicted there of giving false evidence to a prosecutor who was investigating Elisas disappearance. Her body was not found until March 2010, in the attic of a church in Potenza where she had last been seen with Restivo.

Reviewing Lawyer Alastair Nisbet said: When I made the decision to charge Restivo with the murder of Heather Barnett in May 2010, I didnt know how significant the discovery of the body of Elisa Claps would become. I made the decision on the basis of the English evidence alone because, although we knew that the body of Elisa Claps had been found, we did not know what evidence they would find, nor whether we would be allowed to have it as evidence.

The international element of this case has been one of the more fascinating aspects. The Italian authorities were very helpful but could not let us have any evidence until it had been revealed to Restivo and his Italian legal team.
So we were waiting with bated breath for evidence to arrive and be translated.

The UK court had no jurisdiction to try the Italian for Elisas murder in Italy, but the evidence was admissible as bad character. Similar fact evidence was also admissible, with hallmark features in both cases: hair was cut from both vicitms, both were attacked from behind, and both victims trousers were lowered similarly.

Finding Restivos DNA on the back of Elisas jumper was particularly significant. Restivo was convicted of the murder of Heather Barnett only, but the trial judge, having heard the evidence, found that he had also murdered Elisa Claps and said that it would be unrealistic not to take that into account
in fixing the minimum term that Restivo must serve before being considered for release on parole.

In sentencing Restivo to a whole life minimum term of imprisonment, Mr
Justice Burnett said, The seriousness of this offence is exceptionally high. The depravity of the killing, the careful planning and preparation, its sexual content and the previous killing of Elisa Claps drive me to the conclusion that a starting point of 30 years would not be appropriate.

This case is believed to be the first time that, in proving one murder, the prosecution had proved that the accused had committed another, unrelated, murder.