Recent Achievements

The Central Sector is one of the busiest in the country and as indicated has recently dealt with an unexpected upsurge in work arising from the August disturbance.  This involved co-ordinating our response in terms of providing advocates at night courts and re-aligning our resources to meet additional casework preparation demands.

The Sector deals with high profile work across the whole spectrum of criminal cases.  This includes gang and gun related crime as well as specialist work such as Customs and Excise prosecutions and the census prosecutions.  We deal with a diverse section of the community in a multi cultural City.

  • Ceepreon Christian, aged 16, was convicted of murder after trial at Birmingham Crown Court and was sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 16 years. He had stabbed to death the 17 year-old victim after a chance meeting in the street. A witness, who had failed to attend the trial, returned to the UK shortly after the conclusion of the trial and at the reviewing lawyer's insistence, was arrested on the warrant that had been issued as a result of his non-attendance. He appeared before the trial judge and was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment for contempt of court. This case is a fine example of the prosecution team adding real value to a case by ensuring that Counsel had an impeccably prepared case to present at trial. The case is noteworthy for the fact that the trial judge, the Recorder of Birmingham, agreed with our submission that a statement from a prime prosecution witness, who had deliberately absented himself from the trial process and the country, was admissible under the Hearsay provisions not withstanding the defence argument that it should be excluded. The prosecution team was made up of Sean Kyne, Senior Crown Prosecutor, Kate Stone Paralegal Officer, Rhiannon Jones, Crown Advocate and Junior to Gareth Evans QC and Sue Richards Paralegal Assistant.
  • Nathan Hamilton, aged 29, was accused of manslaughter after a fellow gang member was fatally shot in the bedroom of a house in Wolverhampton. The deceased was a friend of the defendant and there was no suggestion that the shooting arose from any malice on the defendant's part nor that it was a deliberate act. The prosecution's case was that a group of gang members gathered to discuss their response to an earlier incident in which the defendant's brother had been beaten up by a rival gang. The defendant in interview with the police said he had seen a holdall in the room, reached in out of curiosity and picked up a wrapped item which was a sawn off shot gun, and which whilst wrapped went off in his hands - fatally wounding his friend, the deceased. The prosecution case relied on those admissions and also upon the evidence reluctantly given by the deceased's twin brother who was also present at the time. The family were lukewarm in their support for the prosecution and ultimately failed to respond to witness warnings in the lead up to the trial. Summonses had to be obtained and the twin brother was arrested having failed to answer summonses and was brought to court in custody. At court he refused to answer questions from prosecution counsel. He was held in contempt and sent to the cells, where after a period of reflection, he returned to court where he was dealt with as a hostile witness. At the close of the prosecution case the judge acceded to a defence application that the jury should not be allowed to consider his account given in evidence and thereafter acceded to a submission of no case to answer. The Prosecution team of Iain Farrimond, Senior Crown Prosecutor, Graham Reeds QC, Patrizia Parsonage Paralegal Officer and Vicky Luke and Bev Lalsheta, Paralegal Assistants immediately gave notice of an appeal against the Terminating Ruling, the basis being that evidence had already been given of the gang background and that the jury were entitled to conclude from this that the purpose of the gathering had been a gang conference to discuss reprisals for the earlier attack. The prosecutions appeal was expedited in the hope of being able to resume the trial before the existing jury as it was feared that there would be serious difficulty in getting witnesses back for a further trial at a later date. The Court Of appeal upheld the prosecution submission on all counts and returned the case to the jury at Wolverhampton CC who subsequently convicted him. He will be sentenced later this month.

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West Midlands CPS - Central & Western Sector

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the main prosecuting authority in England and Wales. In our daily operations we work in partnership with all the agencies in the criminal justice system. We work especially closely with the police, although we are independent of them.

The Central and Western Sector of the West Midlands CPS covers a highly populated and diverse area of the Midlands embracing Birmingham and the Black Country.  In the last year, we have dealt with over 48,000 cases in the magistrates courts and 6,000 Crown court cases.

The Sector is based at two sites: Black Country magistrates' court work is undertaken from offices in Wednesfield whilst all other work, including Crown Court case preparation and Crown Advocacy, is delivered from our base at Colmore Gate in Birmingham. This also houses our magistrates court team serving the Birmingham Court, the largest of its kind in Europe.

The Sector contains 257 legal, para-legal and administrative staff performing a combination of advocacy, case preparation and support to the prosecution process.  It includes a department of lawyers specialising in undertaking advocacy in cases at the most serious end of the scale heard before the Crown Courts.

The Crown Advocates Unit at Birmingham now comprises two Principal Crown Advocates, four Senior Crown Advocates and 31 Crown Advocates covering Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Leamington Spa court centres.  Our management team have been pivotal in enabling the service to recruit advocates from the Bar and is proud to acknowledge the majority of our Crown Advocates have been recruited from within the CPS.  The team has developed into an effective and efficient team of advocates prosecuting difficult complex and high profile case across the Area.

The Crown Court Unit deals with a whole range of criminal cases ranging from murder to theft.  A significant proportion of the casework is towards the more serious end of the scale including serious gang violence, large scale drug dealing and a large number of homicide cases.  Members of the department have recently won recognition for the work dealing with the cases that arose from the disturbances in Birmingham and Wolverhampton in 2011. 

We also house a Public Protection Unit in Birmingham which is staffed by experienced and specialist staff in the field of rape and sexual offences who work with the police to build the best possible cases.  The Unit and its staff are continuously working with local groups who support the victims of such crimes, encouraging them to come forward and assisting them through the prosecution process.

Central & Western News

  • Since January 2012, the Birmingham magistrates' team have been developing a digital POD team. Bindi Athwal, Senior Crown Prosecutor has been asked in the last six weeks to prepare a training package for use Area wide. To do this she has prepared a manual, desk top instructions and a training programme which she has cascaded to lawyers throughout the Area. Her work has come to the attention of the national project board and they have adopted some of her work. She is leading the Area, and in some terms, nationally. Michelle Price, Senior Crown Prosecutor has taken over the day-to-day training of the Birmingham staff. She has trained the POD staff to prepare files electronically, the trial lawyers to present cases on the laptop and the Associated Prosecutors to review and check Advanced Information electronically. She has taken on a supervisory role and has been very successful in driving the team forward. Both members of staff have gone over and beyond what would normally be expected of them by equipping our staff's knowledge and expertise in the pursuit of bringing in digital working in the Central and Western Sector.
  • The Sector has been chosen to introduce an Early Guilty Plea Scheme at Wolverhampton Crown Court with effect form 5 April 2012.  A similar scheme was established at Birmingham Crown Court in July 2011 and has proved successful.  The aim of the scheme is to encourage defendants who wish to plead guilty to do so at the earliest opportunity thereby reducing delay between charge and sentence. All agencies will work together to ensure an effective early hearing. The prosecution papers will be served within a tight timeline and reports will be available from the Probation Service to support the disposal of the case at the first hearing. Defendants will receive maximum for credit for pleading at this stage, reducing court appearances and reducing the need for the attendance at court of victims and witnesses of crime. The expansion of the scheme to Wolverhampton will provide an opportunity for more defendants to be dealt with in this way.

Senior Management Team

Nigel Gumley, Senior Sector Crown Prosecutor, CPS West Midlands Central & Western Sector

Nigel GumleyNigel is responsible for CPS operations at the magistrates courts in Birmingham and the Black Country and the Crown Courts at Birmingham and Wolverhampton.  Prior to joining the West Midlands Area, he held a similar post in Central London.  He has 27 years experience in prosecution work and in recent years he has spent periods acting as the Senior Area Business Manager for West Midlands and as the Chief Crown Prosecutor for Warwickshire.

 

Julie Sealeaf, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Birmingham Magistrates Unit

Julie SealeafJulie is a local lady, having been born in Smethwick.  She obtained her law degree at Birmingham Polytechnic and attended the College of Law at Chester.  She then completed her articles as a court clerk with Warrington magistrates' court and qualified in 1986.  Julie joined the CPS in 1987 and she has prosecuted throughout the Black Country area and now Birmingham.  Her husband is also a prosecutor and they have two teenage boys.

Julie currently leads the Birmingham Magistrates Unit, who are the fore runners in the use of the digital file with the aim of the CPS being paperless in 2012, both in terms of preparation and presentation in court. 

John Baker, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Black Country Magistrates Court Unit

John BakerJohn Baker is the Sector Crown Prosecutor leading the Black Country Magistrates Court Unit which is based in Wednesfield at Wednesfield Police Station.  It is responsible for prosecuting cases before Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Walsall and Dudley magistrates courts. John qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and joined the CPS in October 1990. Prior to joining CPS he was in private practice specialising in criminal and family law. Since joining CPS John has worked on the teams prosecuting at Walsall, Dudley, Halesowen, Stourbridge, West Bromwich and Warley Magistrates Courts. He gained promotion to his current grade in 2001 and was appointed as Head of the Criminal Justice Unit for West Bromwich. Since then John has gone on to be Head of the Walsall Criminal Justice Unit, and has also been the Charging Manager responsible for the delivery of daytime charging advices in the Southern and Northern Sectors. Currently he is the Sector Crown Prosecutor in charge of the Black Country Magistrates Courts Department. He secured the Law Society exemption, for Higher Rights, in October 1999

Martin Lindop, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Birmingham Crown Court Unit

Martin LindopMartin was born and educated in Northern Ireland.  He came to England to study for a law degree at Warwick University and never returned.  He was articled to a commercial firm in Birmingham and then spent 18 months dealing with commercial litigation before joining the CPS.  He was admitted as a solicitor in 1990.  He then joined the CPS as a Crown Prosecutor in 1992 and was promoted to a District Crown Prosecutor in 2006, initially based at Walsall, then in Birmingham where he now manages the Central and Western Crown Court Department with the lead responsibility for Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Martin leads the Sector in respect of firearms offences, football related offending and cases emanating from the 2011 inner city disturbances.  He is the lead on special measures, which is the process by which we assist vulnerable and intimidated witnesses to give evidence in both the magistrates and Crown Court. 

James Jenkins, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Birmingham Crown Court Unit

James JenkinsJames has worked for the CPS since 1986.  His first post was as a law clerk at the Central Criminal Court Unit in London and then having qualified as a solicitor in 1994, he became a Crown Prosecutor dealing with cases originating in Lambeth, Southwark and the City of London.

He was promoted to District Crown Prosecutor 2003 at which time he managed the Inner London Crown Court Unit before becoming the Unit Head for London Traffic Prosecution Department based in Sidcup.  He dealt with all traffic prosecutions in Greater London including fatal collision cases.  In 2005 he was seconded to the Attorney Generals Working Group reviewing the way that fraud is investigated, prosecuted and sentenced in England and Wales, that review being published in 2006.  In 2008 he transferred to CPS West Midlands during which time he has managed both the Magistrates Court/Charging Department and more recently the Crown Court Department.  He currently heads up the Crown Court Department dealing with prosecutions in both Birmingham and Wolverhampton Crown Court, but taking the lead for those in Birmingham. 

Hayley Firman, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Public Protection Unit

Hayley FirmanHayley trained and qualified as a Solicitor in private practice in the Black Country.  She joined the CPS in 1991 and in 1999 she gained the Higher Court Advocacy qualification and started to prosecute cases in the Crown Court.  In 2005, she became the District Crown Prosecutor for Solihull and in 2007, she was appointed as the District Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Advocates Department in Birmingham.  She is a rape specialist and tutors the CPS Child Abuse Course.  She was instrumental in setting up a designated Public Protection Unit in Birmingham involved exclusively in the advice and preparation of sexual offences.  Hayley is now the Acting District Crown Prosecutor for the Central Public Protection Unit dealing with all the serious sexual offences and domestic violence cases in the West Midlands.

Paul Reid, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Crown Advocacy Unit

Paul Reid Paul was admitted as a solicitor in 1987.  He worked in private practice for four years before joining the CPS in 1991.  He qualified as a Crown Advocate in 2001.  He became District Crown Prosecutor for the Walsall Magistrates Unit from 2003, and in 2006 he was appointed to the role of District Crown Prosecutor for the Wolverhampton Crown Court Trials Unit.  In 2011 he moved to the centralised Crown Advocates Unit based at Birmingham.  He leads this Team and regularly appears as an advocate in Crown Court.  He has conducted a number of trials and acted as a Junior in three murder trials.

 

Irene Flynn, Senior Sector Business Manager

Irene FlynnIrene has responsibility for the administration systems that support all of the above.  Irene joined local authority prosecuting solicitors' office in 1979 working as an administrative officer.  She gained various promotions until she became a manager within the Civil Service in 1986.  She led the first Complex Casework Team in 1987.  In the early 90's she was appointed as one of the first Associate Prosecutors in the West Midlands.  In early 2000 she became Senior Business Manager for the Birmingham office and is currently responsible for both the Central and Western office, Charging Department, centralised PPU and the Crown Advocacy Department.  She has worked for the department for 31 years across a wide range of duties and is assisting the movement towards a digital CPS and a paperless office.