Jonathan Higgs KC

• R v SB & Others [Southwark] 2021

  Assassination of Rival International OCG

  Gordon Carse, led by Jonathan Higgs KC, represented an alleged member of a Swedish hit team, hired to assassinate a leading member of a rival international OCG. The case made national headlines due to the professionalism of the assassination, in which latex masks and other disguises were used prior to the shooting. The shooting itself was designed to be shocking, taking place on Christmas Eve on the victim’s doorstep and in front of his family.

• R v LG & 4 ors [Manchester CC] 2020

  Homicide

  Jonathan Higgs QC represented LG in the final instalment of the notorious Salford gang wars of 2015, when machine guns, pump action shotguns, machetes and even military handgrenades were used in a series of executions and assassination attempts spreading all across Manchester and then abroad to Spain. LG was acquitted of all charges.

  News Report Here.

• R v. KM & 2 ors [C.C.C.] 2019

  Enfield murder & attempted murder by Shooting

  Jonathan Higgs QC successfully defended this client who was acquitted of the joint enterprise murder of an North London student who was stabbed multiple times and shot following a late night altercation. A second victim survived multiple stab wounds. The two other defendants were convicted and sentenced to serve a minimum of 29 years each. Instructed by Phaedon Georgiou of Joseph Hill Solicitors.

  News report here.

• R v. NT & ors [Maidstone] 2018

  Drink & Drugs fueled Killing of Kent Man

  Jonathan Higgs QC leading James Martin for Goldkorns Solicitors. Three people were charged with Murder following the discovery of a body left in the stairwell of a block of flats in Chatham. The deceased and the three charged were known drug users and the death had occurred in a nearby flat occupied by one of the accused.

  The previous few days were carefully pieced back together by the investigatory team using a combination of CCTV footage, eye witness accounts and call records as well as some footage from mobile phones.

  There were complex issues of causation due to the post-mortem findings and in particular the neuro-pathology results. Besides the factual complications there were also issues relating to identification and also joint-enterprise.

• R v. Davis [C.C.C.] 2017

  Self Defence Murder

  Jonathan Higgs QC led Paul Jackson for the defence of this young male charged with murder. The Crown’s case was that the defendant stabbed the deceased 14 times in a matter of seconds. Whilst the defendant accepted causing the death of the deceased, he asserted that the deceased attacked him with a knife which he was able to take off of him and then acted in self-defence. The defendant was found not guilty.

  BBC report here.

• R v. Yogarajah & ors [Luton] 2017

  Torture & Murder of Love Rival

  Jonathan Higgs QC successfully defended his client in this 8 week murder trial involving the kidnap, torture and killing of an alleged love rival. Instructed by Farradays.

  BBC report here.

• R v. Pollard & anr [Maidstone] 2017

  Murder of Pokemon Go fan

  Jonathan Higgs QC was instructed for the defence of this man cleared of his involvement in the murder of Pokemon Go fan, Carl Gregory, by strangulation in a revenge attack for posting offensive material online of an ex-girlfriend. Instructed by Gurney Harden Solicitors.

  News Report here. 

• R v. Clayson [Maidstone] 2017

  Cold Case Serial Rapes

  Jonathan Higgs QC led James Martin in this trial involving a series of knifepoint stranger rapes in the early 1990's. Multiple allegations born from a cold case review of DNA recovered from a stocking left at the scene of a brutal stranger rape in the 1990s. This was linked to another attempted rape at the same time and was supported by reliance upon Similar Fact principles alone. Significantly the case concerned the proper interpretation of new statistical analysis of mixed-profile poor quality DNA samples. Instructed by Berry & Lambert.

• R v. JLM & ors [C.C.C.] 2016

  Murder of a 17 year old aspiring "Rap" artist

  Jonathan Higgs QC leading Valeria Swift defended a 15 year old youth, at his 2 month Old Bailey trial, charged with 5 others, accused of the murder of a 17 year old aspiring "Rap" artist in South London. Instructed by Thomas Boyd Whyte Solicitors.

• R v. Ahmed [C.C.C] 2016

  Murder of father

  Jonathan Higgs QC led Paul Jackson in the Defence of a young male charged with the murder of his own father and attempted murder of his young niece and nephew. Defendant found not guilty by reason of insanity. Instructed by Emery Halil and Brown.

  News report here.

• R v. Salah & 4 ors [Chelmsford] 2016

  Murder

  Jonathan Higgs QC defended in this trial of 5 men for murder after victim was robbed and fatally attacked in Basildon, Essex. Instructed by Sternberg Reed.

• R v. G [Snaresbrook] 2016

  Sexual Assault upon teenage girl

  Jonathan Higgs QC successfully defended a man who was cleared of raping a young teenage girl whilst his daughter slept beside her. Instructed by Tuckers.

• R v. Hashi & ors [C.C.C] 2016

  Joint Enterprise Murder

  Jonathan Higgs QC leading Danny Robinson successfully defended a man cleared of a joint enterprise murder in which was the first trial to be subject to the Supreme Court decision of R v. Jogee. Instructed by Thomas Boyd Whyte Solicitors.

  Daily Telegraph report here.

• R v. Paul [Blackfriars] 2015

  Historic Sexual abuse in Lambeth Children’s Home’

  Jonathan Higgs QC leading Jonathan Polnay prosecuted this prolific paedophile. Paul was convicted by the jury of numerous counts of serious sexual abuse of boys in his care in a Lambeth children's home.

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35316685

• R v. Phillips & anr [C.C.C.] 2015

  Murder

  Jonathan Higgs QC defended a teenage boy charged with another for the fatal stabbing of a young man in East London. Instructed by Alexander Johnson & Partners.

• R v. Dirda & ors [Canterbury] 2015

  People Trafficking

  Jonathan Higgs QC leading Paul Jackson in the defence of male charged along with others with rape and enforced prostitution. The complainant alleged that when she was 13 years old she was forced to consume class A drugs, forced into prostitution and raped on multiple occasions. The trial was stopped after 2 months at half-time following successful submissions of no case to answer based on the unreliability of the complainant. This case included the cross-examination of a vulnerable 16 year old witness through an interpreter and intermediary and application for third party disclosure from a different country. The served unused disclosure amounted to thousands of pages in this case. Instructed by TS Law. News report here.

• R v. Cohen & ors [Kingston] 2015

  Conspiracies to commit Armed Robbery

  Jonathan Higgs QC defended a Hatton Garden jeweller in a long running Kingston trial involving armed robberries upon Mappin & Webb in the City, Prada and Jimmy Choo in Bond Street and Alexander McQueen's wharehouse in Islington. Instructed by Blackfords LLP.

• R v. Heir & ors [Blackfriars] 2015

  Money Laundering

  Jonathan Higgs QC defended in a case involving an Indian national concerning a large-scale money laundering operation in the UK involving the passing of millions of pounds of UK banknotes to know drug dealers. The defendant was employed by the Sahara group and it was alleged that company was involved in the conspiracy. Instructed by EBR Attridge.

• R v. Terry & ors [Maidstone] 2014

  Revenge Killing

  Jonathan Higgs QC led Edmund Fowler for the Prosecution of these 4 defendants for the murder of a Kent man found naked on the beach in Leysdown. The alleged motivation for the attack and murder was the victim was alleged to have molested a teenage girl earlier on the night of his murder.  

  BBC report here.

• R v. B & ors [Harrow] 2013

  Bogus college immigration fraud

  Jonathan Higgs QC led Jonathan Polnay and Senghin Kong prosecuting three defendants involved in running a bogus college for conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. The defendants were convicted after a 3 month trial. The case involved complex legal argument in relation to Griffiths-type conspiracies and substantial disputed evidence from forensic accountants. Senghin Kong was instructed to prosecute the resulting 3 day confiscation hearing without a leader, against three QCs and juniors. Instructed by CPS Central Fraud Group.

• R v. F & ors [Maidstone] 2013

  Murder

  Jonathan Higgs QC led James Martin and successfully defended this allegation of Murder. Principle defendant accused of stabbing his partner in premeditated attack said to have been planned in advance and encouraged by the second defendant who hid in the boot of the car when victim was picked up by the first defendant. Issues in the case involved: Self defence, loss of control, secondary parties to Murder and joint enterprise.

Notable Cases

• Operation Cent [C.C.C.] 2013

  Anti-corruption unit worldwide investigation re: bomb detection units

  Jonathan Higgs QC leading Jonathan Polnay represented a defendant in the much publicised Old Bailey trial involving the worldwide sale of "fake" bomb detection devices. Instructed by Gary Bloxsome of Blackfords LLP.

  BBC news report here.