Stuart Rafferty QC
Called 1975
Gray’s Inn
Business Law BA (Hons) – Class 2:1
Recorder – Crime 2001 (Serious Sex Ticket), Civil 2004
Queens Counsel – 2009
A specialist practitioner in crime for more than thirty years and a member of these chambers since 1992, by common consent, Stuart is “one of the most consistently adept performers and safest pair of hands at the Criminal Bar”. His areas of expertise are manifold, and he is in great demand both to prosecute and defend in cases of:
• murder and attempted murder;
• manslaughter (both unlawful act and gross negligence);
• serial rape and child sex abuse; and
• serious fraud (including defence of members of the legal profession).
Cases in which he has appeared in Silk include:
R-v-Majid Hussain and others: The prosecution of ten accused for a high profile attempted murder and violent disorder.
R-v-Pearson: The defence of a mentally ill, albeit fit to plead, accused for the attempted murder of an on-duty police officer.
R-v-Owens and others: The prosecution of three accused for attempted murder and violent disorder.
R-v-Anthony Stewart and others: The defence of one of nine defendants indicted for murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. Anthony Stewart was named first on the indictment, and submissions made on his behalf at the conclusion of the prosecution case, adopted by leading counsel for the co-accused, resulted in the count of murder being withdrawn from the jury.
R-v-David Stokes and others: The jury failed to reach a verdict in respect of this accused although two other defendants were convicted for a gang-related murder by shooting outside a Nottingham nightclub.
R-v-Brothers: The defence of a woman of good character indicted for causing death by dangerous driving, where the outcome of the prosecution case with regard to an allegedly defective load turned on a detailed challenge of scientific evidence.
R-v-David Stokes: A second jury failed to reach a verdict in respect of this defendant on the count of murder for which he had been indicted with others previously and the Crown offered no further evidence.
R-v-Breslin: The prosecution of an accused for murder by means of a sawn-off shotgun notwithstanding that his nephew, the sole eye witness for the Crown, became hostile and was cross-examined as to previous inconsistent statements.
R-v-Whittle: The prosecution of an accused for murder committed in the course of drug-related robbery, multiple stab wounds being sustained by the deceased.
R-v-Dawson: The defence of an accused indicted for two counts of murder committed when released on life licence for a previous such offence.
R-v-Smith: The prosecution of an accused for murder using a knife taken by him to the scene for that purpose.
R-v-Simmonds: The prosecution of an accused for the brutal murder of a complete stranger in a case reported extensively in the national press.
R-v-Powell: The defence of an accused indicted for manslaughter in which the case turned on the overuse and effect of prescription medication and alcohol upon the personality of the deceased.
R-v-Eyre and Herbert: The prosecution of two accused for murder and related offences involving the use of a van to deliberately run down the deceased for an alleged drug debt.
R-v-Holden: The prosecution of a female accused for the murder by stabbing of a man alleged to have hit her brother some two years previously.
R-v-Patel: The defence of an accused whose account had been the intended recipient of a £600,000 deposit in a multi-million pound, insider driven, high street banking fraud.
Such leisure time as remains to him is occupied by family life, gardening, walking, music, the theatre, good food, fine wines and convivial company.
