At New Park Court Chambers, we do things a little differently. With 70 junior barristers and 16 King’s Counsel, our reach and influence stretches far beyond the bounds of our Circuit.
As a Tier 1 Set based in Leeds and Newcastle we are home to a number of high profile and nationally and internationally reputable Counsel.
Peter’s busy and diverse practice consists of high-profile inquiry and inquest work and criminal trial and appellate cases.
Peter’s Inquests have included the Hillsborough Inquests, in which Peter represented seven families who lost loved ones during the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster and led the questioning on the topics of the design of Hillsborough stadium, the decision to open the stadium gates, and the subsequent police cover-up on behalf of the 77 families represented by the Hillsborough family Support Group. He has appeared as junior counsel for Guiseppe Conlon in the 1993 May Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the convictions arising out of the 1974 bomb attacks in Guildford and Woolwich. Since 2023, he has been involved in the ongoing Covid Inquiry, in which he jointly leads a team of two KC’s and five junior counsel representing Northern Irish families who lost loved ones in the Covid pandemic.
Other inquests in which Peter has appeared have involved deaths in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and as a result of police shootings and in the context of police activity.
Peter’s criminal trial work continues to involve serious crime of all types, including murder (whether planned, spontaneous, or domestic and including cases involving complex scientific or evidential issues), serious sexual offences, organised crime and fraud. Peter regularly appears in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and has appeared in both the House of Lords and Supreme Court. Many of Peter’s cases have been and continue to be well-publicised, and his appellate practice still involves regular second opinion work. He has an enviable success rate of persuading the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) both to refer cases back to the Court of Appeal and to then quash conviction, including Hallam (2012), Nealon (2014), Lalchan (2022), and Layden (2023). Further details of these cases can be found below in the Specialist Areas section under Criminal Appeals.
Peter has also sat as a Mental Health Review Tribunal Judge for over 20 years.
Represented Defendant in trial for causing serious harm (life changing brain injuries) to child. Proceedings ongoing.
Represented Defendant acquitted or murder in multi-handed cut-throat trial. Proceedings ongoing in relation to remaining manslaughter allegation.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder and manslaughter in relation to homeless ex-barrister. (ITV News Meridian)
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder during “honeytrap” robbery. (BBC News)
Represented Defendant charged with attempted murder during street shooting at Manchester Carnival. (BBC News)
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder in the course of robbery of cannabis farm. (BBC News)
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder in the course of repeated robberies of drug dealers.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder during a drug deal that went wrong.
Represented 15-year-old accused along with nine others of murder at a local fair. The case was reported nationally. See ITV news coverage here.
Represented bouncer acquitted of manslaughter whilst working at a club. The case was reported by the BBC.
Represented Defendant accused, along with her son, of murder in the course of a postcode gang dispute. Proceedings are ongoing.
Represented 17-year-old Defendant accused of murder, along with 4 others, in the course of “tit for tat” attacks. Proceedings are ongoing.
Represented 17-year-old Defendant accused of murder, along with 3 others, of a “random” postcode attack in which a member of the public was stabbed to death. The case was reported in the BBC.
Represented 16-year-old Defendant accused of murder in the course of drug dealing.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder. Prosecution case was that he was part of team responsible for the shooting of an innocent member of the public mistakenly targeted in the course of gang feud. The case was reported in the BBC.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder during the course of a bungled burglary of a cannabis factory. The case was reported in the BBC.
Represented Defendant accused of murdering his drug dealer having previously sent a text to a friend stating: “Tonight I will commit a murder.”
A three-handed cut-throat case, in which the Defendants were all charged with attempted murder x 4, arson with intent to endanger life and reckless arson. D was prepared to plead guilty to reckless arson at the outset, as he was caught on CCTV setting light to a house in which a family were sleeping. However, the Crown would not accept such a plea. After a 6 week trial, he was acquitted of attempted murder and arson with intent and convicted of reckless arson only. The case was reported in the BBC.
Represented Defendant acquitted of “County Lines” dispute murder.
Represented Defendant accused of “family feud” murder.
Represented Defendant in retrial of UK’s largest immigration fraud and attempting to cheat HMRC of payroll tax in the region of £16.6 million. The case was reported in the Daily Mail.
Represented Defendant accused of murder.
Represented Defendant accused of murdering her husband. The case was reported by the national press including Mirror.
Represented Defendant acquitted of rape.
Represented Defendant in multi-handed trial of UK’s largest immigration fraud and attempting to cheat HMRC of payroll tax in the region of £16.6 million. All other defendants convicted. Jury could not agree on K.
Case reported in national press including Standard.
Represented Defendant in well-publicised prosecution for tax cheat.
Represented Defendant accused of knife murder. This case was reported by the BBC and the Daily Mail.
Represented Defendant acquitted of alleged conspiracy to murder in which victim was shot on his driveway. This case was reported by the BBC.
Represented Defendant accused of murder. This case was reported by the BBC.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder the jury having been told of his conviction for attempting to murder the deceased who had consequently been in a coma for 10 years. Press report at Oxford Mail.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder. See press reports on Court News.
Represented Defendant acquitted of large-scale immigration fraud.
Represented Defendant accused of murder outside nightclub. This case was reported by the BBC.
Represented Defendant accused of murder. This case was reported by the BBC.
Represented Defendant acquitted of murder.
Peter specialises in appeals against conviction/sentence and applications to both the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He has advised in around a dozen successful applications to the CCRC and conducted a number of high-profile criminal appeals including the cases of Sam Hallam, Victor Nealon, Wang Yam and Deborah Winzar. As a junior, Peter appeared in many well-publicised successful appeals including Lorraine Harris, Suzanne Holdsworth and Ian Gay.
Represented successful appellant in appeal for murder conviction, following a referral by the CCRC, based on the technical point that the prosecution had failed to have him arraigned after a Court of Appeal ordered retrial. The case is reported here.
Represented appellant in specially convened five-judge court dealing with the effect of the prosecution failing to obtain the consent of the Attorney General under s27(1) Public Order Act 1986.
Represented appellant in a high-profile appeal against conviction for murdering her paraplegic husband in 2000 by allegedly injecting him with insulin without his knowledge. The case involved detailed consideration of detailed medical evidence including evidence from specialists in spinal cord injury, chemical pathology, and endocrinology and has been reported in the national media and at (2021) 1 Cr App R 16.
Represented appellant in high-profile appeal against conviction for murder in controversial “secret” trial. This case was reported in Newsnight and the Guardian and is the subject of a book “Blood on the Page: A Murder, a Secret Trial, a Search for the Truth”.
Represented appellant in successful appeal against conviction for sexual offences.
Represented appellant in successful appeal – based on fresh DNA evidence – against his conviction for attempted rape. This case was covered by the BBC, the Guardian, and the Independent.
Represented appellant in against conviction for murder based on trial judge’s failure to leave the partial defence of provocation.
Represented appellant in appeal against conviction for soliciting to murder based on interplay between conduct of co-accused’s case and propriety of resulting summing-up.
Represented appellant in his successful appeal against conviction for murder following a CCRC referral. This case was covered by the BBC.
Represented appellant in his appeal against conviction for murdering his wife following a CCRC referral.
Peter represented seven families at the Hillsborough Inquests. Following the inquest’s successful conclusion, he has been instructed to advise in a number of ongoing inquests and civil actions against the police. He has a developing regulatory practice having recently acted in proceedings before the GMC and Traffic Commissioners.
Represented the family of a football fan who died watching a football match at Hillsborough football ground in 2024.
Represented Northern Ireland Bereaved Familes for Justice in Modules 2 (Core UK decision-making and political governance), 2c (Core Northern Ireland decision-making and political governance), 3 (Impact of pandemic on healthcare systems in UK), 4 (Vaccines and therapeutics), 5 (Procurement), 6 (Care Sector) and 7 (Test Trace & Isolate) between September 2023 and July 2025
Represented parents of man shot by Police after armed stand-off.
Peter represented seven families during the Hillsborough Inquests, in which the 96 people who died were found to have been unlawfully killed. His questioning at the inquest received widespread publicity. He led the families’ questioning extensively on the topics of stadium safety, police failings in controlling the build-up of supporters and police attempts to “cover-up” the disaster. This included questioning many of the senior officers involved in the disaster – including some of the match commanders (BBC 2nd October 2014), officers involved in the immediate police PR response to the disaster (Daily Mirror 20 April 2015), Sir Norman Bettison, former Chief Constable of Merseyside police (BBC 5th May 2015), junior police officers (Guardian 18 September 2014, ITV 22nd September 2014) and stadium engineers (BBC 4th June 2014).
Coroner’s inquest into death of patient detained under Mental Health Acts who was able to hang himself despite nominally being on five-minute observations. The jury returned a narrative verdict critical of the detaining authority.
Coroner’s inquest into death of 23-year-old prisoner, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in his teens, who died of smoke inhalation after setting fire to cardboard furniture in his cell. Jury verdict was critical of decision by prison staff to allow him access to lighting materials given his previous history of starting fires both during previous prison sentences and outside. Inquest also covered prison service policy in relation to use of cardboard furniture and inaction in relation to implementation of cell rescue equipment.
Coroner’s inquest into shootings at Turnmills nightclub in April 2003 raising issues of police response to information they had received in advance of the shootings. Jury found that that information was not “communicated effectively between the relevant parties”, and that better communication might “have led to a more proactive action plan”. This case was reported in the Guardian.
Since taking silk in 2012 Peter has appeared in several large-scale fraud trials.
He is presently instructed in proceedings which have been ongoing since February 2018. As a junior, he also appeared in a number of high-value fraud trials.
Represented acquitted defendant accused of conspiracy to rig tender for supply of over £1 million of copper cable to Thameslink project.
Represented Defendant acquitted of large-scale immigration fraud
Represented defendant acquitted of large-scale immigration fraud.
New Park Court Chambers are pleased to announce the associate tenancy of…
Discover more
