Recent Achievements

  • Vincent Ashman, 38, and the deceased encountered each other in the Tropical Harmony club in Bilston, in the early hours of 21 November 2009. The two men were known to each other, but motive for what followed was never clear. The deceased commenced an attack on the defendant with a bottle and an expandable metal baton. The defendant responded by producing a handgun with which he shot the deceased six times, twice to the head, three times to the chest and once to the leg. The deceased was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The same day, defendant attended travel agents where he booked a return flight to Jamaica. He duly left the country 48 hours later on the outbound flight. The defendant was involved in another shooting incident 16 months previously outside a club in Wolverhampton. Iain Farrimond, Senior Crown Prosecutor liaised with the police, the UK's SOCA representative in Jamaica, with CPS Special Crime Division at Rose Court and with specialist Extradition Counsel. The defendant was detained in Jamaica almost a year to the day after the fatal shooting, in an operation by the Jamaican authorities targeting the facilitating of unlawful immigration to the United States. One of the numerous persons arrested was Ashman. Initially, he waived formal extradition and agreed to return voluntarily to the UK to face investigation and likely prosecution for the murder of the victim in Bilston. However, difficulties arose when the then Jamaican Attorney General refused to sign the release papers to enable the defendant to be returned, and insisted on a full extradition application from the UK, despite her colleague, the Jamaican Solicitor General, insisting that this was not necessary given the defendants waiver of these formalities. Something of a logjam then ensued in Jamaica, resulting in the defendant eventually making a successful application for Habeas Corpus and securing his release from detention. The resulting ripples of disquiet reached as far as the Her Majesty's Foreign & Commonwealth Office from where a diplomatic communication was sent on behalf of the government to Jamaica expressing concern about the situation.  Ashman was eventually re-arrested in October 2011 and, following a full extradition application an order was made by the Jamaican authorities for his extradition to the UK. Further delay then ensued while Ashman unsuccessfully appealed that decision before he was eventually returned to the UK. He was remanded in custody and following a 10 day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 30 years.
  • At Birmingham Crown Court on 24 January 2013, Derrol Flynn, 40, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, having pleaded guilty on the day of trial to one offence of conspiracy to burgle and one of conspiracy to commit fraud. Her co-accused, Sharon Harkin, 47, received a one year sentence for an offence of fraud. Both were involved in bogus official offences in which elderly victims were targeted. Flynn managed to convince an elderly lady that she was an undercover police officer and to pay £11,000 to her. The victim was on the verge of signing over ownership of her house when the defendant was arrested. She also admitted her involvement with a gang involved in bogus official burglary offences. She pleaded to a count of conspiracy to burgle, having accepted that she was the person who tricked her way into one elderly victims house and stole money. None of the victims identified the defendant on identification parades. The case had to be built on circumstantial evidence involving cell site analysis, identification from CCTV footage.
  • Emma Bate, 26, a crack addictive prostitute from Birmingham was found guilty of murdering a Bridgnorth man in 2012. Her boyfriend Paramjit Singh, 33, had pleaded guilty to murder at an earlier hearing. The 57-year-old victim, a client of Bate who had showered her previously with gifts, luxury breaks and cash, was held captive and tortured for his money which was needed to fund their drug addiction. Bate was found guilty after a trial at Stafford Crown Court on 31 January 2013. The case was prosecuted by Philip Beardwell, Crown Advocate as junior counsel and was praised by the police for his preparation for trial and for the way he dealt with the deceaseds family.
  • Allegations of Fraud by Sharon Walker,46, a former care home manager, who had been taking money from the personal accounts of residents under the guise of payments towards non existent funeral plans which she instead used to pay for items she then gave to members of her own family as gifts. The defendant denied the matters until the day of trial when she entered a guilty plea. She was sentenced at Stoke Crown Court 16 months' imprisonment. HHJ Glenn stated: 'The courts have a duty to protect those who cannot help themselves. The residents were elderly patients and young adults with physical difficulties. They had to rely on staff for their care. You took advantage of a lax system. The particular vulnerability of your victims is a significant aggravating feature'. An application under the proceeds of crime act to recover the benefit of her crime was also granted. Senior Crown Prosecutor, Eran Cutcliffe and Paralegal Officer, Carole Walters worked closely with the investigating officer against a multitude of problems to bring a successful case including the collapse of the care home company, Southern Cross, the death of two of the complainants during the course of the proceedings and arranging for a witness in Bali to provide evidence to further the case. This was a serious offence committed against some of the most vulnerable members of society by a person in a position of significant trust this was ultimately reflected in the sentence imposed by the court.


Home » Crown Court Unit

West Midlands CPS Crown Court Unit

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 West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service's Crown Court Unit is headed up by Suzanne Llewellyn and supported by eight Sector Crown Prosecutors.

We deal with the regions most serious criminal cases such as murder, rape, robberies, serious assaults, dwelling house burglaries, complex fraud, the supply and trafficking of drugs, and the most serious road traffic offences especially those that result in a fatality.

Around 12% of the region's criminal cases reach the Crown Court, in real terms this equated to 9,654 cases being finalised at the Crown Court in the financial year 2011/12. The remaining 88% of cases are dealt with by our Magistrates' Court Unit.
These cases are prepared and prosecuted by a team of dedicated prosecutors, paralegals and administrative support staff.

The Unit also has 56 Crown Advocates who undertake advocacy across the Crown Court centres on a daily basis. Within this unit, they also have five Senior Crown Advocates and three Principle Crown Advocates who are engaged in the most serious casework. The Advocates are supported by a dedicated team of clerks based in Birmingham. The West Midlands Crown Advocate Unit is one of the largest advocacy teams in the CPS.

We handle cases from the four police forces in the West Midlands region and we have offices located in Birmingham, Stoke, Leamington Spa, Droitwich and Shrewsbury, which serves the Crown Courts of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Stoke, Stafford, Worcester, Shrewsbury and Hereford.

Within the Unit we also have a Public Protection Unit, staffed by specially trained prosecutors who have conduct of all our cases involving serious sexual offences and offences involving violence towards children.

We also house a specialist department who deal with financial confiscation and enforcement orders to ensure convicted criminals do not benefit from any financial gain they have accrued through their criminal lifestyle.

Our staff work closely with dedicated Witness Care Units as well as working with the witness service and Independent Sexual and Violence Advocates to provide guidance, information and support for victims and witnesses involved in prosecutions.

Crown Court Proceedings

The police are responsible for responding to allegations that a person has committed a crime. They will decide whether an investigation is required and how it should be conducted.

All cases commence at the magistrates' court where, at a preliminary stage, it will be decided whether the case is suitable for hearing at that magistrates' court or whether, due to the seriousness of the case, it should be dealt with at the Crown Court.

Unlike the police, we are not an investigative body and have no powers to investigate allegations of crime but can guide and assist the police to build evidentially strong cases before independently reviewing the evidence rigidly applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors to each case to be satisfied there is both a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to prosecute an offender. Our role is to ensure that the nationally recognised Evidential and Public Interest Tests, as described within the Code for Crown Prosecutors, are applied to cases and so determine their suitability to be put before a court.

If you are unfortunate enough to be a victim or witness of a crime, following charge, our aim is to secure justice for our community members, to keep you informed and support you. The Code Test is very important to ensure objective consistent decisions are made applying the same criteria. To put this in context, the CPS does not act for a victim or witness in the sense that a solicitor acts for a client. A victim or witness may want a case to be taken further that the evidence justifies.  Whilst the interests of a victim or witness must never be overlooked, as an independent prosecuting authority, our decisions must be made after proper consideration of relevant law.

New initiatives

Since 2011, we have worked alongside our partners in the criminal justice system to adopt the Crown Court Early Guilty Plea scheme. This scheme aims to speed up justice, reduce the number of court hearings and overall time taken to conclude cases. Where guilty pleas are likely a case can be concluded in less than 50 days. This provides a much quicker resolution for victims and finalises cases more quickly for those charged. In October 2012 the scheme went live across the whole of the West Midlands region.

This year, and the next five years, is an exciting time for CPS as we move with the 'digital era'. All our staff are embracing the use of technological advances and we are working with police, courts and local solicitors to receive and serve evidence by electronic transmission. Our staff have all been issued with electronic tablets to enable them to use electronic evidence at court. The opportunity for witnesses to give evidence by TV link is being used increasingly on all relevant cases. We aim to lead the way by ensuring effective and efficient use of modern technology within the criminal justice system.

Senior Management Team

Suzanne Llewellyn, Head of the West Midlands Crown Court Unit

Suzanne LlewellynSuzanne commenced her career at West Midlands CPS in 1991. In 2001 she transferred to West Mercia CPS where she introduced statutory charging. She qualified as a Higher Court Advocate in 2004 and undertook regular Advocacy at both the magistrates and Crown Courts. Since 2010, Suzanne has been the West Midlands Regional Lead for Violence Against Women and has most recently rolled out an Area Strategy to establish Specialist Public Protection Units based at Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham and Droitwich. These Units work collaboratively with the police and voluntary sector victim support agencies to enhance victim and witness care.  
She has been involved in a rolling programme of training to criminal justice partners, the Violence Against Women Scrutiny Panels and numerous community forums. Suzanne is also the Senior Sector Crown Prosecutor for Eastern Sector, Coventry and Warwickshire, and retains her lead thematic role for Violence Against Women for the West Midlands Area.

James Jenkins, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Birmingham and the Black Country 

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 General's 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 West Midlands CPS during which time he has managed both the Magistrates' Court and Charging Teams and more recently the Crown Court Team.  He currently heads up the Crown Court Team dealing with prosecutions in both Birmingham and Wolverhampton Crown Court, but taking the lead for those in Birmingham.

Martin Lindop, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Birmingham and the Black Country

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 Birmingham and Black Country Crown Court Team with the lead responsibility for Wolverhampton Crown Court. Martin leads the area in respect of firearms offences, football related offending and cases which emanated 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.

David Elliott, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Worcestershire and Herefordshire

David ElliottDavid was born on Tyneside but moved to Worcestershire as a teenager.  He joined the CPS in Thames Valley and returned to West Mercia in 2003.  He has experience of prosecuting cases across the whole range of work we cover and is a Higher Courts Advocate a youth and rape specialist prosecutor.

 

 

Max Bennett, Sector Crown Prosecutor, Shropshire

Max BennettMax was awarded Higher Court Rights 9Criminal) when a solicitor in private practice, in 2000, conducting a number of jury trials. In 2003 he joined the CPS and he became a CPS Higher Court Advocate in 2004. Max became the first Higher Court Advocate to prosecute a murder case. He was promoted in 2008 and became the District Crown Prosecutor in charge of CPS Herefordshire. In 2010 he moved to Shropshire, and is now the head of CPS Shropshire Combined Unit (Crown and magistrates' court).

 

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 Sector Crown Prosecutor for the 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 Unit 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, 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 the Business Manager for the Birmingham office. 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.