Ben Douglas-Jones QC appeared for the Crown in GS [2018] EWCA Crim in which the Court analysed what constitutes a change in law case for the purposes of granting leave to appeal against conviction out of time in human trafficking cases.
The risk to the Applicant’s immigration status was deemed to be a substantial injustice. The case set out a hard edge approach in the receipt of medical evidence on appeal in the context of trafficking cases on the grounds that the evidence could have been adduced in the Crown Court, exceeded the proper scope of the experts’ expertise and a retrospective analysis of an appellant’s psychological status will not necessarily be accurate.
The case addressed the significance of duress being rejected by a jury where trafficking status is on appeal relied on to show an abuse of process.
Ben Douglas-Jones QC and Aparna Rao secured convictions of Philip Bujak, the former CEO of the Montessori charity for species of fraud including the receipt of a kickback in relation to the sale of a property in Princes Gate near Hyde Park, the inflation of invoices from the charity’s printing company, the forgery of art restoration invoices to show that art belonged to Montessori when it in fact came from his private art collection and business expense claims which in fact related to successive family reunions.
Bujak received a 6-year prison sentence and was disqualified for acting as a company director for 10 years.