Jessica Russell-Mitra

Crime Barrister

Jessica is a busy criminal defence practitioner, being an advocate of jury trials with an interest in complex legal arguments.

Recent cases

• R v S (Court of Appeal): appeal against conviction, application of section 31 defence when in possession of identity documents;

• R v C & others: led junior in 3 month trial of a multi-handed property fraud conspiracy;

• R v P: £50,000 theft from employer;

• R v L: cultivation of cannabis farm.
• R v C (CA): Use of Competent Authority decisions in retrospective challenges to criminal convictions for victims of trafficking
• R v K (CA): Serious sexual offences against child, use of ABE, replaying of ABE to jury after retirement, need for balance by J in making sure cross-examination put. J had remarked didn’t think the jury would be assisted by reminder of cross-examination. CA considered otherwise and reiterated J’s duty. D acquitted at re-trial.
• R v JI: Rape trial stopped by Crown after cross-examination of complainant.
• R v MC (Isleworth Crown Court): Represented a nurse charged with contravention of a regulation of the Misuse of Drugs Act, having allegedly caused the death of a patient by the incorrect administration of morphine. Crown offered no evidence against the defendant after complex legal argument about the errors in the autopsy procedure and the co-morbidities suffered by the patient which may have been the cause of the patient’s death. Worked closely with end-of-life/palliative care expert.
• Application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission of a father of two convicted of historic sexual abuse of his sister when both were children. Involves the use of “flashback” and “false memory” expert evidence.
• R v SC & others (Southwark Crown Court): Led-junior counsel for defence of employee of the Land Registry charged in a complex mortgage and property fraud worth several billion pounds. Involved complex argument about bona fide purchasers and Land Registry procedures.
• HSE v WHC (Huntingdon Crown Court) : Led-junior counsel for defence of expert engineer charged by the Health and Safety Executive of failures in relation to the risk assessment and maintenance of fairground machinery, which led to the injuries to customers of the fairground ride. Involved complex expert evidence on the design and operation of mechanical fairground machinery and of the cause of the accident and cause of the injuries. After two unresolved trials, legal argument led to the HSE agreeing not to proceed to a third trial.
• R v NA (Isleworth Crown Court): fitness to plead proceedings in relation to death by dangerous driving, involving the analysis and presentation of complex psychiatric evidence of degenerative dementia and the cause of the accident.
• R v FS (Reading Crown Court): taxi driver charged with causing serious injury to motorcyclist. Involved use of expert evidence of Accident Investigator of cause of accident, including reconstruction of likely speeds of vehicles at time of collision, weather conditions, conditions of vehicles and road conditions.
• R v EK (Woolwich Crown Court): father charged with cruelty to his child by beating with a metal buckle of a belt. Involved the use of expert evidence of the resulting marks of childhood diseases (chickenpox and guillanbarre) as alternative explanation of alleged injuries.

Actions Against The Police Barrister

Jessica regularly advises and represents clients undertaking actions against the police, prisons, and other bodies. She is a member of the Police Action Lawyers Group (PALG).

Recent cases

• R (on the application of P) v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police [2014] EWHC 1436 (Admin): successful judicial review to remove inappropriate information from P’s ECRC;

• S v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: malicious prosecution based on police officer identification evidence;

• L v Commissioner of Police: L was wrongly charged with offences of assault PC, section 5 POA, and common assault. Charges were dropped, the PC who had punched L in the face was disciplined and a successful civil action was taken against the Commissioner for  the battery, unlawful arrest and false imprisonment of L;

• E v Governor, HMP Pentonville: successful action for miscalculation of sentence and release date for convicted prisoner;

• F v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: ongoing action for conversion by police of high value property.