PROFILE
Phil’s was called to the Bar in 2014, but his legal career began in 2003 when he joined one of Manchester’s leading specialist criminal law practices. He would go on to spend more than a decade climbing the ladder as a solicitor, becoming one of the most widely-recognised and well-respected higher court advocates on Circuit.
His ability was recognised from the very start. In a letter appointing him as a duty solicitor at the age of just 23, the Dean of the University of Cardiff Law School, described him as “one of the most talented young solicitors we have ever had qualify through the scheme”.
In 2014 Phil was approached with the offer to join the team here at Nine, and he has never looked back. Since moving across, Phil has worked hard to add the expertise and authority of the Bar to the diligence, attention to detail and client-focussed approach he learned as a solicitor.
These days Phil is best-known as a prosecutor of serious and organised crime. He has represented the Crown in cases of murder and manslaughter, national and international-scale drugs conspiracies, kidnapping, firearms offences, fatal driving offences and serious violence to name but a few. He is regularly instructed by the CPS complex casework unit to deal with multiple-defendant prosecutions of the utmost gravity, often involving complex areas of law. He prosecutes on behalf of the National Crime Agency and, since 2020, has been one of the small number of specialist Counsel dealing with the prosecution of the ‘EncroChat’ cases.
He has wide-ranging experience of providing pre-charge advice on serious and complex prosecutions, often working with investigators from the outset of a case, assisting and directing them to help build a comprehensive evidential picture. He is a category 4 CPS panel advocate with additional qualifications in prosecuting rape and serious sexual offences.
As part of his serious and organised prosecution portfolio, Phil has gathered extensive experience of disclosure and unused material handling - including highly sensitive information and intelligence management.
Through all of this though, he has not forgotten his roots as a defence lawyer, and Phil remains highly sought-after to defend in cases of the utmost seriousness, particularly where a sensitive and client-focussed approach is required, or where defending is assisted by an intricate knowledge of prosecution procedures. He has developed a particular reputation for defending professionals such as police officers, teachers and prison staff when facing criminal charges, and has experience of defending those clients against professional disciplinary proceedings when their trials in the courts have come to an end.
Phil’s experience across the whole breadth of the criminal justice system has been recognised in more recent years by his appointment to the bench, where he sits as both a Recorder of the Crown Court and a Deputy District Judge in the Magistrates’ Courts.
NOTABLE CASES
Operation Madura (2024)
A multi-handed murder involving novel legal issues around the ability of the defendants to rely on the ‘householder’ branch of self-defence in circumstances where they had deliberately brought the fatal confrontation to their own door. Phil was responsible for giving pre-charge advice to the police and CPS before the proceedings were brought, and once the case came before the courts he then acted as junior counsel for the Crown.
Press:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68550421
- https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/lads-part-group-who-smashed-28966367
R v DS (2024)
Defending a primary school teacher charged with the repeated sexual assault of a child in his class. Phil was engaged from the outset to represent the defendant from the moment of charge, through the sensitive advanced recording of the evidence of a number of young children through to the defendant’s eventual acquittal at trial.
R v FR (2024)
Prosecuting a defendant who imported over £2.5million worth of cocaine into the UK via the Channel ports, concealing his activities as the legitimate business of a European courier.
Press:
Operation Glory (2023)
Appearing alone, prosecuting in a 6-defendant class-A drugs conspiracy based upon evidence from the EncroChat network. Phil also represented the prosecution through the confiscation proceedings that followed.
Press:
Operation Malange (2023)
Leading Simon Blakebrough in a 9-defendant “EncroChat” class-A drugs conspiracy. During the course of the case Phil successfully cross-examined Dr Duncan Campbell, one of the foremost independent experts on the reliability of EncroChat data and the limitations of the data capture system. Dr Campbell’s evidence was to suggest that the EncroChat data could not be relied upon to support convictions. The jury convicted.
Press:
R v JK (2022)
Defending a police sergeant charged with perverting the course of justice. The Crown alleged that the defendant had concealed evidence of him mistreating a suspect during an arrest. The officer was found not guilty on a submission of no case to answer. Phil went on to represent the officer through gross misconduct proceedings before his professional regulators.
R v VDF and PD (2021)
Prosecuting the first defendant for the ‘kneecap’ shooting of a drug rival, leading to the amputation of the victim’s leg. Subsequently prosecuting the first defendant’s mother for assisting an offender for her efforts to conceal the crime committed by her son.
Press:
Operation Chairs (2020)
Junior for the prosecution in a five-defendant case involving conspiracies to possess firearms with intent, conspiracy to cause GBH with intent and conspiracies to supply drugs. The case was one of the first UK prosecutions which relied upon evidence from the EncroChat breach. The circumstances involved the mistaken-identity shooting of an innocent man on his front doorstep.
Press:
Operation Leopard (2018-2019)
Junior counsel for the prosecution in the series of trials arising out of the Salford “A-Team” gangland feud which resulted in two firearms murders (including that of Paul Massey) and several attempted murders (including the shooting of seven-year old Christian Hickey and his mother on their front doorstep). The main defendant received a whole-life term of imprisonment. Phil was embedded with the investigation team from the earliest stages of the case, giving pre-charge advice as well as assisting in the direction of the investigation and the handling of vast quantities of unused material and intelligence data.
Press:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-46902706
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-47911192
Operation Speedway (2018)
Leading junior for the prosecution in a 14-defendant conspiracy to commit armed robbery and to launder the proceeds through fixed-odds betting terminals.
Press:
Appointments
Deputy District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) (2017)
Recorder (2019)
Associations
Criminal Bar Assocation
Northern Circuit
Education
University of Leicester (LLB Hons, 1999-2002)
Manchester Metropolitan University (Legal Practice Course, 2002-2003)
Prescribed Information
Phil Barnes is a practising barrister, regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Details of information held by the BSB about Phil can be found here.
Phil’s clerks will provide no obligation quotations for all legal services that he offers. Phil accepts instructions on legal aid rates where those are available, details of which can be found here. For other work, Phil usually charges a brief fee plus refresher fees for court hearings, with advisory, conference and other preparation work charged at an hourly rate. Phil aims to return paperwork within 10 working days, however his professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect these approximate timescales.
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