Matthew Gowen has developed a practice that balances prosecution and defence work. He is instructed in a wide range of criminal and regulatory cases and in recent years has specialised in financial crime and sexual offences.
He appears frequently as a leading junior both for the defence and the Crown in serious criminal cases including murder, manslaughter, armed robbery, rape and large-scale fraud. He has also advised on and appeared in cases of regulatory crime, including Health & Safety and environmental matters.
He has extensive experience of Coroner's Inquests and has represented numerous interested parties, most notably the family of Stuart Lubbock, who died during a party at the house of entertainer Michael Barrymore.
Cases of Interest
R v Wilks and ors, 2005, Crown Court at Southend, as leading counsel for main defendant in a charity fraud.
R v Green and ors, 2005, Crown Court at Ipswich, as leading counsel for the Crown in a four-handed conspiracy to defraud.
R v Crump and ors, Crown Court at Basildon, leading counsel for one defendant in a boiler room share fraud.
R v Cudbill and ors, 2008, Crown Court at Leicester, leading counsel for one of multiple defendants in drug-related money laundering
R v Hardy and Blacklaw, 2006, Crown Court at Ipswich, prosecuting counsel in case involving two gun-point Securicor robberies.
R v Wilson, Crown Court at Chelmsford, prosecuted defendant charged with attempted murder of a Police Officer.
R v Moore, 2006, Crown Court at Chelmsford, prosecuted defendant charged with murdering his wife.
Large-scale drug operations include Operation Black Watch, Operation Taurus (2004) and Operation Wolf (2007).
As junior counsel, he prosecuted Operation Portwing (to 2006), a very large multi-handed case involving conspiracies to supply firearms and Class A drugs, operating from Thurrock, Essex. It resulted in a large number of convictions. Assets of between £900k and £1m were identified with over £30k cash seized. Two undercover officers were deployed within the existing criminal community, targeting a local public house identified as the hub of activity. The two UCOs quickly built up trust amongst the criminal network. They were supplied with cocaine and firearms, and gained intelligence about two hydroponics factories set up in a local port. By the end of 2004 the investigation secured corroborated evidence against 31 subjects, 14 of whom were indicted for an overall conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Others were charged with substantive firearms charges. Seven defendants were sentenced to a total of 22 years.
R v Dagworthy, 2009, Crown Court at Chelmsford, leading Counsel for defendant in multi-million pound Ponzi fraud.
R v Frankham and Ors, 2009, Crown Court at Ipswich, leading counsel for Crown in three-handed attempted murder.
R v Ramanjally, 2009, prosecuting consel in an attempting to pervert the course which had national media coverage. The defendant is accused of falsely alleging that he was abducted at knifepoint by two members of the BNP, following an on-going dispute in Loughton over the use of a village hall for prayer meetings. (ongoing case)
He also appeared in R v Safi and ors (2001) at the Central Criminal Court. The trial concerned the Stansted Hijacking. Nine Afghan defendants were convicted of hijacking an Afghan Ariana Boeing 727 during an internal flight from Afghanistan in February 2001. The plane landed in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Moscow before eventually heading for Britain. The pilot was forced at gun-point to Stansted. The men, who had threatened to detonate a bomb onboard, said they had been trying to escape a Taliban death squad. They were found guilty of the hijacking, and further charges of false imprisonment and possessing firearms.
