Neil FitzGibbon

R v Dhir – Winchester Crown Court – This case involved an allegation of conspiracy to supply cocaine with 20 million pounds of cocaine being collected from a cold store facility disguised as chicken pallets and couriered around the country during lockdown. A not guilty verdict was secured.

R v Doherty – Chester Crown Court – The accused was indicted with possession of a firearm, he was acquitted following written submissions on the transference of DNA from either indirect contact or secondary transfer of DNA material. The indirect transfer of DNA may have arisen from the accused who was living in a tight travelling community and having no direct contact with the firearm or the wrapping in which the gun was contained may have contained the accused’s DNA and
transferred onto the firearm. The DNA results cannot of themselves determine how any matching DNA was transferred to the firearm.” Instructing Solicitor was Richard Cronin from Messrs O’Keefe

R v Lawless – Cardiff Crown Court – The accused was a train guard and acquitted of endangering the lives of his passengers contrary to Section 34 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 when a passenger fell onto the tracks after alighting and the train was dispatched travelling a short distance before it was appreciated a passenger was trapped between the platform and the train.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58909772

R v Quilligan – Winchester Crown Court – The defendant was part of a family gang targeting addresses and committing burglary on an almost industrial scale getting away with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of money and property.  The client was acquitted.

R v Williams – This was a significant Class A drugs conspiracy where the accused was videod handing over a quantity of cocaine, his defence was lack of knowledge and was acquitted.

R v Fatmir Dragoshi – The defendant was accused of a conspiracy to “people smuggle” Albanian Nationals across the Channel from France. The defendant was acquitted.

R v Neil Boyle – The defendant was charged with murder where the victim had died 6 years after sustaining life changing injuries from an assault in which the accused had previously been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and sentence to a term of imprisonment. The accused was found unfit to stand trial.

R v J.J. – Allegations of serious sexual offences following invitations to meet through facebook. The accused was acquitted.

R v Waqas Khan – Luton Crown court. Neil was Leading in this case where the accused was indicted in respect of a multi – million pound Class A drug conspiracy case involving drug links with the north of England. The accused was part of a multi handed trial but acquitted after a trial lasting several months; there was a twist to the case in that during the trial the accused left his bag in the dock of the court room overnight and in the morning it was discovered that inside his bag was a tennis ball size of cocaine.  Neil successfully argued that the admission of such evidence would be so highly prejudicial during the course of his trial that it should not be admitted as evidence to support his current trial, the judge agreed and the evidence of the cocaine found in the dock mid way through his trial was excluded.

At a later date the defendant did plead guilty to the separate offence of possession with intent to supply the cocaine found in the dock of the court room and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

R v Buckingham – The accused was charged with murder he stabbed a roadsweeper who was trying to prevent him from escaping from a burglary that he had just committed.

R v Gueli – This was a case that involved the kidnapping of two young boys and being held over night at knife point.

R v Clark – This case concerned a large scale drug supply case, where the defendant had a large quantity of drugs concealed on his premises together with significant sums of cash. The defendant was acquitted on all counts.

R v Edwards – Neil was Leading in this murder trial at Chelmsford Crown Court where the defendant stabbed his partner 17 times with a kitchen knife; the defence was provocation in that he’d lost his self control by the constant verbal abuse which berated and belittled him. The defendant was acquitted of murder and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for the manslaughter which led to AG’s Ref 008 2011. The sentence was subsequently increased to 7 1⁄2 years.

R v Ikram Ali – Southwark Crown Court – A prosecution by the Medical Health Regulatory Agency in a conspiracy to supply prescription only medication over the internet, that was imported from abroad and distributed worldwide. The defendant was acquitted following a three month trial.

R v Okrah – Kingston Crown Court – A multi-million pound oyster card fraud, defrauding TFL having discovered a way to manipulate the revenue ticketing system.

R v Athenou – Southwark Crown Court – A VAT British Gas fraud which involved selling gas to other companies and it was alleged that the VAT wasn’t forwarded onto the HMRC. The accused was acquitted.

R v El Kurd & Oths – Blackfriars Crown Court – This was a multi handed 80 million pound money laundering trial that lasted over 6 months. The defendant that Neil represented was acquitted.

R – v – Goldie – Sennelager Court Martial Centre – This was an allegation of grievous bodily harm with intent. It was alleged that the accused had cut up another soldier with an 8″ knife. There were 60 knife wounds across the other soldiers torso, back and legs. The defence was one of self infliction, which seemed a little difficult to prove at first due to the wounds in the small of the back but due to their nature and grouping they had the hall mark of being self inflicted. The Soldier was acquitted.

R v. Yograj Rai Court Martial case – This was a court martial conducted in Belize in Central America. Neil was Leading in this trial which concerned the murder of a young Belizian boy outside a nightclub. The soldier Neil was representing was acquitted and returned to his regiment.

R v Robert Pomphrett – Chelmsford Crown Court – This was a HSE prosecution following the tragic death of a concrete gang layer where a hose attached to a concrete pump lorry suffered a blockage and then released which resulted in a violent sudden release of high pressure air causing the rubber hose attached to the metal boom to whip and cause the death of the concrete layer holding the end of the hose. The defendant and his Co were acquitted of all Health and Safety allegations.

R v Martin Zee – Liverpool Crown Court – The was a HSE prosecution where the accused was a train guard and prosecution for allowing the doors to close on a passenger resulting in the passenger falling down the gap in the platform and onto the railway track and sustaining serious injuries. The accused was acquitted.

R v David Millward – Nottingham Crown Court – This was an HSE prosecution involving a track worker being killed by a train and the allegation against the defendant is that as the supervisor he failed to take all the necessary precautions in the supervision of his team. The defendant was found not guilty.

R v R – This was a health and Safety at work prosecution of a carer who was prosecuted for the death of a patient in their care.

R v Simmons and Others – Stafford Crown Court – Neil was Leading in this manslaughter trial that involved an Incident Fire Fighter Commander being prosecuted for health and safety failings which resulted in four fireman tragically losing their lives trying to put out a blazing warehouse in Warwickshire. This was a complex prosecution and the first of its kind where fireman had been tried for the manslaughter of other firemen in the line of duty. Neil’s client was acquitted on all counts.

R v Virgin Rail derailment inquest – This was an inquest in Kendall following the derailment of a Virgin train. The entire train comprising 8 carriages came off the tracks in Cumbria as a result of points failure sadly resulting in the death of a passenger.

R v Corbould – Guildford Crown Court – The accused was a special effects supervisor who had recently received an Oscar and the BAFTA together with the Visual Effects Award for 2011 for the film Inception. He was prosecuted by the HSE when a tragedy occurred in the filming of the Batman film “Dark Knights” when a special effects technician died whilst filming a proposed stunt of the Batmobile being “cannoned” and then flipped.

R – Bowles & Oths Central Criminal Court – A haulage company was prosecuted when one of their driver’s fell asleep at the wheel. His articulated lorry triggered a terrible accident causing the death of another motorist travelling in the opposite direction on the M25. Neil was representing one of the financial directors of the company who was acquitted.

Grenfell Inquiry – Neil has been Instructed by Messrs Powell Spencers to represent at the Grenfell Inquiry the Building Control Supervisor of Kensington & Chelsea Building Control department responsible for producing the final sign off certificate for the Grenfell Tower.