As a Member of both the Barbados Bar and Northern Ireland Bar, Nigel Peters can be instructed to appear before their Higher Courts.
His practice is built on defending and prosecuting a variety of criminal cases and in a number of areas of judicial review dealing with public and administrative law, licensing and disciplinary work.
As a junior, he was appointed, in 1992, Standing Counsel to HM Customs and Excise, now RCPO. He was involved in leading work involving Money Laundering, Excise, VAT and major smuggling cases. Alongside he defended and developed an expertise in Obscene Publications and licensing, in particular in relation to places of public entertainment and sex establishments. This resulted in a number of cases for judicial review in the High Court, House of Lords and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. He has also appeared and continues to appear for other prosecuting authorities including the Crown Prosecution Service, Serious Fraud Office and DTI.
In Silk, he defends and prosecutes and his expertise covers major fraud, money laundering, terrorism and murder. He has defended in a number of high-profile fraud cases (VHCC contract cases), defended and prosecuted in at least a dozen murder trials and defended in a high-profile terrorism trial involving students who were accused of downloading extremist material. Many of the cases have involved complex issues of law, statutory interpretation, abuse of process and arguments over disclosure/ PII.
He continues to advise and represent clients in Obscene Publications, public entertainment licensing and allied fields and Judicial Review.
Nigel Peters also has an expertise in Sport and Disciplinary work. He is a Member of the MCC Committee and is involved there with Laws and Rule drafting together with disciplinary proceedings. In January 2008, in Sydney Australia, he was instructed by the International Cricket Council to advise and assist the Match Referee in the Disciplinary Hearing involving the Indian Test Cricketer Harbajhan Singh. This ‘cause célèbre’ became known as the Bollyline Affair - see Wisden 2008, page 1242.
Cases Of Note
R v Heer (2008) defended H on incitement to murder his wife and wife’s lover, evidenced by a newspaper sting operation.- Birmingham CC
R v Apalara (2008) defended in a fraud on John Lewis Partnership - Southwark CC
R v Zafar (2008): defended Butt, who was one of a number of students accused of terrorism offences as a result of downloading and discussing extreme material. Convicted at the Central Criminal Court but acquitted on appeal by the Court of Appeal.
R v Rajput (2007): defended one of the main defendants in a multi-million pound drug smuggling operation.
R v Saik [2006] UKHL 18; [2007] 1 AC 18: Prosecuted a money laundering trial involving 7 defendants. Case went to Court of Appeal and House of Lords. In the House of Lords the matter concerned the inter-relationship of the statutory definitions of conspiracy and money laundering.
R v Caddoux [2004] EWHC. 642 (Admin): acted for Appellant in Judicial review proceedings arising over extradition to France, issues of habeas corpus and double jeopardy.
R v El-Kurd (2001) prosecuted an 8-defendant money laundering trial. Conviction upheld in Court of Appeal, first successful case where the derivation of the money could not be shown.
Conegate Limited v Customs & Excise [1986] ECR 1007: successfully argued on behalf of company before European Court of Justice in Luxembourg that freedom of movement of goods applied to certain sex articles.
