Crown Advocates

West Midlands CPS houses one of the largest in-house Crown Advocate Units in the country, consisting of 57 Crown Advocates who are based at our offices in Birmingham, Droitwich and Stoke-on-Trent. The Unit is leading the way on Crown Advocacy for the CPS and is supported by a centralised Clerking and Fees team who are based in Birmingham.

Our advocates work as a team with the investigating officers, lawyers and caseworkers bringing together all their experience to build the best possible cases for court.

The advocates are dealing with and prosecuting cases of all degrees of seriousness from straightforward thefts and assaults to rapes, serious sexual offences, complicated frauds and murders.

Our advocates work as a team and are committed to looking to the future and to developing their experience and successes. Training is delivered to the advocates on a regular basis; we are constantly looking how we can effectively deploy our advocates across the CPS West Midlands to bring diversity of practice to all advocates.

We have a lot to be proud of what we have achieved so far. With these firm foundations set we are committed to provide a high standard of advocacy to the West Midlands.

West Midlands Crown Advocacy Unit

Paul Reid, Sector Crown Prosecutor, West Midlands Crown Advocates Unit

Solicitor since 1987

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.

 

Peter Grieves-Smith, Principal Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 1989
Barrister

Peter was called to the Bar in 1989 and from 1990 until 2006 he was a tenant at the Chambers of Roy Amlot QC at 6 King's Bench Walk, Temple, and London.
In 2006 he joined the Organised Crime Division of the CPS as a Principal Crown Advocate prosecuting highly complex cases which were investigated by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.  Peter then moved to Birmingham CPS in 2008 as Principal Crown Advocate and prosecutes murders, attempted murder and other serious and complex offences.

Peter was on the Attorney General's A list for prosecuting counsel from 2003-2006 and he has lectured to the IAP Conference in The Hague in 2007. He is also the Lead Tutor on the Appellate and Advocacy courses for the CPS. He is a member of The Bar Council since 2010, The Bar Council Law Reform Committee and the Employed Bar Committee.  Peter is also a contributor to the Response to Law Commission Report on Expert Evidence in Criminal Proceedings.

Shenaz Muzaffer, Senior Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 2002
Barrister

Shenaz obtained a first-class honours degree in Law from the University of Nottingham in 2001, and was called to the Bar in 2002.  Shenaz was a tenant at 3 Fountain Court Chambers in Birmingham from 2002 to 2006, before moving to Number 5 Chambers in Birmingham.

Shenaz joined the CPS as a Senior Crown Advocate in 2008.  She is a specialist rape prosecutor, and is highly experienced in prosecuting cases concerning sexual abuse, child cruelty, and historic sexual allegations.

She has extensive experience in dealing with child witnesses and vulnerable witnesses. In addition, Shenaz also prosecutes murders, attempted murders, complex frauds, and serious drugs offences. She is alo involved as a tutor for in-house advocacy training and mentoring.

Emma Cutts, Senior Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 1998
Barrister

Emma was called to the Bar in 1998 and successfully completed pupillage in Leicester. In 2002, Emma moved to Chambers in Nottingham where she predominantly prosecuted on behalf of local CPS prosecution areas. She was involved in a number of high profile murder cases as junior and was also Counsel in R-v-Wallace.

In 2008, she joined the CPS as a Senior Crown Advocate. Since joining the Service, she has been involved in a number of complex cases including fraud, sexual assaults and historic rape cases. Emma is also involved in advocacy training and mentoring.

Nigel Wilkins, Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 1974
Barrister

Nigel was called to the Bar in Feb 1974. Pupillage was undertaken in London. He worked as Magistrates' Clerk until 1985 when he took employment with West Midlands Prosecuting Solicitors' Department. He joined the CPS in 1986 and started as a Crown Prosecutor in Coventry / Solihull / Sutton Coldfield Branch.  He worked in Birmingham as a Senior Crown Prosecutor from 1988 to1992. He later returned to the Coventry Branch as its Team Leader.  Nigel has held the posts of District Crown Prosecutor for the Criminal Justice Unit in Coventry and the Crown Advocate team in Coventry. He joined the Birmingham Crown Advocates Department in January 2010.

Alistair Redford, Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 1995
Barrister

Alistair was called to the Bar in 1995. After he successfully completed his pupillage, he practised in criminal defence in London.  He moved to Victoria Chambers in Birmingham before joining the CPS as a Senior Crown Prosecutor in 2003 and then the Crown Advocate Department in 2007.  Alistair has advised, prepared and conducted a full range of prosecution cases including several high profile media interest cases and conducted trials on serious assaults, armed robberies, sexual offences and fraud cases. He has appeared as junior on a nationwide conspiracy to supply cannabis.

 

Christopher Lester, Crown Advocate

Solicitor since 2001

Chris trained and qualified as a solicitor in the South East of England where he worked in private practice as a criminal defence solicitor.

He joined the CPS in the West Midlands in 2003 and has been involved in a advising and prosecuting the full range of criminal offences.

He joined the Crown Advocate Department in 2007 and has since been involved in prosecuting cases in the Crown Court. He has prosecuted cases involving drug offences, sexual offences, fraud and a large scale racially aggravated violent disorder in Birmingham city centre.

Chris has been developing his experience and expertise and has been led on six cases of murder and fraud. His work does involve cases from our Complex Casework Unit.

Chris is a rape specialist and a designated prosecutor for the Revenue and Customs. He is also a CPS trainer and regularly tutors internal advocacy courses.

Jason Pegg, Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 1994
Barrister

Jason was called to the bar in 1994 and spent time in chambers in Canterbury, Kent before being commissioned as an Army officer.

During his nine and half years in the military Jason prosecuted at a large number of courts-martial and standing civilian courts prosecuting a diverse and often challenging variety of cases.

Jason spent five years serving with the Royal Marine Commandos. During that time he developed a thorough knowledge of the Law of Armed Conflict and international law serving on operations in Kosovo, Indian Ocean and the first war-fighting operation in Afghanistan.

During his time Jason also conducted a number of inquiries into the deaths of service personnel and sat in Skopje as the NATO Claims Commissioner for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Having retired from the military in the rank of Major, Jason worked briefly for the CPS before leaving to take up a position with ExxonMobil where he was employed for two and half years with extensive travel to the Middle-East, Africa and the USA.
He returned to the CPS in December 2007 and now regularly prosecutes in the Magistrates and Crown Court.
In 2010 Jason was appointed as Her Majesty's Assistant Deputy Coroner for Coventry and Warwickshire.

Harinderpal Singh Dhami, Crown Advocate

Solicitor since 1997

Paul qualified as a solicitor in Birmingham and then moved to work in private practice as a criminal defence Solicitor in Yorkshire for nine years. His caseload included dealing with a variety of offences in the magistrates and Crown Court, including murder, money laundering and drugs conspiracy. Paul then accepted Partnership and obtained the Law Society's Solicitor Advocate qualification.
He returned to the West Midlands in 2005 as Department Head with a national firm specialising in Trade Union work.
Paul then joined the CPS in 2006 and has since prosecuted a wide variety of cases in the Youth, magistrates and Crown Court across the region.

Mohammed Hafeez, Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 2011
Barrister

Mohammed joined the CPS Crown Advocates Department in 2009 and has been prosecuting a wide range of offences in the Crown Court including violent offences, supplying of drugs, dishonesty offences and public order matters. Mohammed received high recognition for taking over from his leader and successfully prosecuting a complex historic sexual abuse trial involving a Catholic priest. He has appeared as Junior on some high profile cases including a complex manslaughter and an attempted murder case.

Mohammed is a specialist in honour, disability and hate crimes. He is also a specialist domestic violence prosecutor.

Aliya Rashid, Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 1994
Barrister

Aliya was called to the Bar in 1994 and she practised in London chambers for two years and specialised in Crime and family law.  As well as her practise, she lectured at the University of South Bank and taught on the HND Business law, LLB (Hons) Property & Trusts, English Legal Systems and the MSc in Charity law.

Aliya joined the CPS in 1998 and has worked at both the Coventry and Birmingham offices.  She was the hate crime specialist in Coventry until 2005 and more recently has become a specialist in honour crimes and forced marriages.

She has spoken at a number of conferences on this topic to senior managers within the criminal justice system and members of the judiciary. In explaining the role of the CPS, Aliya has helped develop closer ties between the Service and the community and provided an in-depth understanding of the Asian culture when tackling honour crimes.

Aliya successfully gave pre-charge advice on a serious honour crime in Coventry where the defendant was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to a 10 year prison sentence. Aliya was also recently appointed Junior Counsel in the prosecution of a Catholic Priest who faced historical child sex abuse charges.  The conviction and prison sentence of 21 years was a landmark success.

The CPS awarded Aliya a commendation for her community engagement and for being an excellent role model particularly within the Asian community. She was also nominated as a finalist in the 'Asian Achievers Award 2010' and she received a commendation for her efforts under the category of 'Uniformed and Civil Services'.

Outside of work, Aliya is a published author, has her own CD album of religious songs and has delivered lectures on television discussing issues affecting Asian Muslim women today.

Charles Gardner, Crown Advocate

Solicitor since 1971

Charles for the first 28 years of his professional career worked in private practice as a solicitor in Birmingham specialising in criminal defence work. He became a partner in a local firm before practising on his own.

He joined the CPS in 2000 and remained prosecuting cases in the West Midlands region. He has been involved in advising the police on all aspects of criminal offences, prosecuting cases in both the Youth and magistrates' courts. He was the first 'home grown' solicitor advocate at CPS Birmingham to conduct a trial in the Crown Court

Charles joined the Crown Advocates' Department in 2009 and has been prosecuting cases since in the Crown Court. He is an accredited trainer in the CPS and has tutored on numerous internal advocacy courses.

He recently prosecuted a case at Warwick Crown Court involving one of two brothers who were accused of downloading indecent images of children. Amongst aggravating features was the fact that the defendant was a teacher. He dealt with both the plea and case management hearing, at which acceptable guilty pleas were entered, and the subsequent sentencing hearing. The defendant was represented by leading counsel, and there was considerable media interest in the Midlands. The case was locally of high profile and needed sensitive handling. 

Rhydian James, Crown Advocate

Solicitor since 1996

Rhydian qualified as a solicitor in the Magistrates' Court Service in Greater Manchester.

As a solicitor, he moved into criminal defence work in private practice for large specialist defence firms.  His first job involved working in the Moss Side area in Manchester where he defended cases of murder and other gang related offences including kidnapping, firearms offences and drugs.

Rhydian return to the West Midlands and joined the CPS in 2000 as a Senior Crown Prosecutor.

He has since been involved with and prosecuted a wide range of criminal offences including murders, attempted murders, rape, sexual offences, kidnapping, robberies as well as fraud, supplying drugs and traffic offences involving fatalities.
Rhydian is also a specialist in youth offender and domestic violence cases. Rhydian regularly prosecutes complex and lengthy youth trials in the Youth Court and continues to prosecute cases in the magistrates and Crown Court.

Theresa Thorp, Crown Advocate

Year of Call: 2003 (South Africa)
Solicitor (UK) since 2007

Theresa completed her BA LLB at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1999. Whilst studying, she was the Student Convenor of the University of Cape Town's Legal Aid Clinic which provides legal assistance to indigent persons.
Theresa subsequently lectured in Commercial Law, Contract and Administrative Law at the Cape Technikon and University of the Western Cape between 2000 and 2002.

In January 2003 she was admitted as an Advocate in Cape Town, South Africa and shortly thereafter moved to France.

In 2004 Theresa moved to the UK. She worked in private practice before joining the CPS in 2006. She re-qualified as a Solicitor in 2007 and went on to become a Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Specialist and Hate Crime Champion. In 2008 Theresa qualified as a Crown Advocate.

Theresa is also a CPS Trainer and she has delivered training on Sentencing in the Crown Court. In 2009 Theresa has received commendations for her achievements in the CPS for the delivery of training to police and CPS, her community engagements and her contribution to the CJSSS pilot in Coventry.