Timothy Harrington

Practice details

Crime

Instructed for defence and prosecution in a wide variety of serious crime at Crown Court and appellate level.  Grade 4 CPS prosecutor, regularly instructed to prosecute cases involving serious violence, sexual offences including rape and child abuse (recent and historic), large scale dishonesty, drugs offences.   Experienced in dealing with defendants suffering from mental illness, included those unfit to be tried in the usual way.  

Also regularly instructed by the Department of Work and Pensions and has prosecuted a number of complex allegations of fraud.   Has experience of other regulatory crime, both prosecuting and defending. 

Recent instructions have included :

• instructed as junior for the Crown in a 'gangland' shooting case, involving 10 defendants including a trainee solicitor, with subsequent allegations of perverting the course of justice and witness interference ; trial included contested RIPA issues on covert surveillance evidence, and appeal involved a week of fresh evidence on cell-site analysis, in the Court of Appeal
• leading junior representing a man charged with 'stranger' rape ;  expert evidence from various disciplines including mitochondrial DNA and cell-site analysis
• defence junior in the trial of a defendant charged with murdering 3 men in the 1990's ; case involved issues of unfitness to plead (defendant tried on whether he 'did the acts'), complex pathological evidence regarding incineration of the human skeleton
• represented principal defendant in a multi-million pound Class A drugs conspiracy
• leading junior in an armed robbery involving 7 defendants
• prosecuted 9 defendants on charges of kidnapping and rape
• represented a defendant charged with supply of cannabis and money laundering, on a massive scale
• prosecuted 6 defendants (including 2 employed by the Post Office) for very substantial Giro cheque fraud
• represented a defendant charged with a conspiracy involving large scale production and distribution of drugs    
• instructed to represent a man charged with rape, assault and false imprisonment of his former partner 

Costs

Has particular expertise in this specialist area, and is head of the Chambers costs team. Experience has included drafting points of dispute for the defence in contentious costs disputes, appearing in contentious costs hearings at first instance and at appellate level, and a number of appearances at the Supreme Court Costs Office.   

Continuing professional development

In the Citadel series, has lectured on dangerous offenders, and the Criminal Procedure Rules.

Regularly involved in tuition with LGC Forensics, teaches forensic scientists with a wide variety of specialities on the evidential requirements of expert reports and expert evidence.