At New Park Court Chambers, we do things a little differently. With a total of 74 barristers, including 13 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.
Geraldine Kelly is an experienced and extremely able criminal practitioner, who manages a well-balanced practice, consisting of both defence and prosecution work, covering all aspects of criminal law. She delivers reliable and sound advice to her clients.
Appearing in the Crown Court on a daily basis has developed her special aptitude for dealing with witnesses, including vulnerable adults, children and experts. Her impressive hard work and attention to detail have allowed her to deal with cases involving voluminous and complex evidence.
Defended company director accused of various offences within the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, involving the intimidation / deception of elderly / vulnerable customers. The case involved a substantial amount of financial and computer evidence.
Defended company director accused of gross negligence manslaughter and fraud, when a baby died in a cot built by him in the course of his business. He then started up a new company and sold a bed, misrepresenting that it had been made to British Standards. This case also involved Health and safety at work practises. The case involved a large volume of computer evidence, namely IP access of email addresses. Defendant pleaded guilty to section 3 Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 after the prosecution case had closed. This was accepted by the prosecution.
Prosecuted a man charged with two counts of rape after DNA evidence linked him to assaults against different women. The defendant was given a life sentence.
BBC reported on the case here.
Defended a step-father jointly charged with the mother of the deceased with murdering her 15 year old son, by repeatedly beating him over an 8 month period.
Defended a male accused of attempted murder of his father in law. He attended the complainant’s home, armed with 2 knives and stabbed him repeatedly.
Prosecuted 2 males accused of stabbing to death another male at Leeds Carnival.
Defended a male jointly charged with 7 others in relation to a drugs gang feud that ended with 2 males being shot and another stabbed with a machete.
Defended a man (led) accused of murder, he had stabbed a female in the neck during a sexual role play game. The prosecution accepted a plea to manslaughter.
Prosecuted a man accused of attempted murder and arson with intent, he set the home of a mother and her two children on fire, whilst they slept, in a revenge attack.
Defended an 18 year old male, Syrian refugee, accused of attempted murder, who entered a mosque, armed with a knife and attacked another male from behind, who had been in prayer, by cutting his throat. The prosecution accepted a plea to wounding with intent, following psychiatric reports relating to the mental illness of the defendant. Defendant was given a hospital order.
Defended (led) a young mother, charged with murder, who threw her baby son out of a 6th floor flat window. The prosecution accepted manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility following the serviced of psychiatric reports. Defendant was given a hospital order.
Prosecuted (junior alone) a male charged with the murder of two adults.
Defended (led) young male, jointly charged with 4 others with murder and violent disorder.
Defended (led) young male jointly charged with 2 others with manslaughter.
Defended a 16 year old from the travelling community, jointly charged with 2 others with blowing up ATMs and stealing cash around the country. Case involved voluminous cell site/call/ANPR data and CCTV footage.
Defended a male accused of section 18 wounding with intent, stabbing another young male (age 17 at the time of the hearing) but 16 at the time of the offence.
Child cruelty – defended boyfriend accused of assaulting toddler son of girlfriend. Defendant diagnosed with autism and had learning disability.
Section 18, causing grievous bodily harm with intent (OAPA 1861) and child cruelty – defended father of baby discovered to have brain injury following alleged assault.
Defended a female jointly charged with a male accused of causing child to suffer serious physical harm, contrary to section 5 of the Domestic Crime Victims Act 2004.
Prosecuted 6 males accused of conspiracy to rob G4S staff when transporting / collecting cash from Banks in the York Area.
Defended a 70 year old defendant accused of historic rape of an 11 year old girl. Acquitted
Defended a 25 year old male, jointly charged with 5 others accused of sexual activity with a child under 16, relating to an alleged grooming gang.
Prosecuted a male charged with anally raping a 7 year old girl.
Prosecuted a consultant anaesthetist for administering a noxious substance likely to endanger life, fraud (fraudulent prescriptions), possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and supplying class A drugs. This case involved a doctor who had been injecting his partner with fentanyl/diazemuls whilst carrying out an Islamic ritual to rid her body of evil spirits. His partner nearly died as a result
Prosecuted a former police Superintendent and police Inspector in relation to s.127 Communications Act 2003, both charged with sending messages which were grossly offensive or of an indecent or obscene nature via the public electronic telecommunication network, namely WhatsApp messages that were offensive about female colleagues/legal professionals.
Currently instructed for the defence in a grooming case involving 10 defendants.
Defended a male accused of 4 stranger rapes and a sexual assault in Wakefield. Each rape involved taking advantage of a lone, vulnerable, drunk female in town. The case involved CCTV footage and required an in depth understanding of Y-STR/DNA evidence.
Defended an 85 year old male, of good character, accused of sexual assault on a train. The issue was whether the act was sexual. He was acquitted.
Defended a Hungarian male who was accused of breaking into a female’s home, wearing a mask and armed with two knives that he threatened her with, whilst raping her 4 times. He then forced her to wash, strip the bed and washed down surfaces he touched before locking her in her home and leaving with the bedding. He lied in interview and said he had not been inside the house but was detected by his DNA being found in the house and he was observed on CCTV footage entering and leaving the home, and apparently in possession of a knife. His defence was consent. He was acquitted. The case required consideration of a large volume of call data and many hours of CCTV footage.
Successfully defended 18 year old with ADHD and learning disability for rape of a female under 13. Defence was that it did not happen. This case required careful and sensitive handling of a vulnerable defendant.
Successfully defended a student accused of raping his pregnant girlfriend. Defendant had Aspergers and his girlfriend was autistic, a complaint witness was also autistic. This required carefully handling of a vulnerable defendant and witnesses.
Defended male accused of sexual assault of child age 6. Case involved section 28 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 pre-recorded cross-examination.
Defended one of 15 young male defendants in a child sex exploitation case where the defendants were jointly charged with multiple offences of rape of a female under 16.
Prosecuted 2 Slovakian brothers accused of sexually abusing 3 child complainants.
Prosecuted a historical sex case concerning buggery. The complainant had, since the offences, committed many offences and in conjunction with the defendant. The defendant was convicted.
Successfully defended a client charged with rape of a female at a party. This case involved the prosecution relying on the defendant’s many inconsistent accounts given in police interviews to demonstrate him as an incredible witness. An expert was called on his behalf to give evidence about the defendant’s poor memory following a brain injury, to account for his tendency to give inconsistent accounts.
Successfully defended a male accused of oral, vaginal and anal rape, when the defence was sleepwalking (automatism).
Defended male charged with conspiracy to commit fraud with 5 others, relating to obtaining credit at builders’ merchants, obtaining goods and then not paying for them. The indictment covered a period of and involved £170,000 + of credit obtained.
Prosecuted a female who was the treasurer of a charity for fraud, abusing a position of trust. The case involved a large volume of accounting data, work diaries and receipts.
Prosecuted case involving a conspiracy to burgle, 6 defendants and over 25 burglaries.
Prosecuted 11 defendants charged with conspiracy to steal by making fraudulent money transfers and using stolen cheques.
POCA proceedings of around £1,000,000.
Defended one of 6 males, in a case involving a joint West Yorkshire/Lancashire operation for conspiracy to supply class A controlled drugs and possession of prohibited firearms. The voluminous evidence included surveillance, cell site data,telephone traffic data and ANPR data.
Following prosecuting and securing the conviction of the defendant for production of cannabis after a trial, the POCA proceedings involved the confiscation of nearly £1 million of assets. Resisted an abuse of process argument from the defence.
Jason Pitter KC leading Geraldine Kelly appeared for the prosecution of 2…
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