Areas of Practice:
- Serious Crime
- Prison Work
- Family Law
Crime:
Janine Sheff defends and prosecutes serious criminal cases with particular expertise in sexual offences and offences against children or other vulnerable victims. These have included gang rape, abuse of learning disabled adults in care homes and witchcraft cases involving child sexual and physical assaults and murders.
She has also conducted multi-handed cases, both as junior and leader, of international drug smuggling rings, violent disorder and murder/manslaughter. These cases frequently require consideration of sensitive PII issues and she has been vetted and approved to work on cases at MI5 and with Special Branch.
Prison Work:
After a 65-hour course completed over a year Janine obtained a diploma in Prison Law and has utilised this accreditation in her work at Parole Board Hearings and Adjudications at prisons around the country. She has acted for lifers and those with mental health problems who are applying for release or to be moved to lower category or open prisons. She has also given lectures in prison law.
Family:
Janine’s practice also encompasses family law, in particular children’s work in both public and private proceedings. She has been instructed on behalf of the local authority, parents and children in numerous care proceedings, adoption and wardship and conducts cases in all the higher courts. She has been involved on various occasions in cases which have been tried in both the family and criminal jurisdictions and is able to deal with complex issues of disclosure in both proceedings. She also deals with all types of matrimonial injunction cases.
Illustrative Cases:
Crime:
R. v. Aziz (1996) House of Lords
Janine was Junior prosecution counsel in this leading case on the scope of the Judge’s task in summing-up in particular on matters such as good character. This resulted from the prosecution of 48 defendants in a VAT fraud which took over 2 years to try and concluded with many convictions.
R. v. Oguntamibi (2008)
Successfully argued on behalf of the Appellant that the Court of Appeal should hear fresh evidence in a rape case and arranged for the witness, a Nigerian princess, to provide evidence on affidavit and subsequently live in court.
R. v. Daniel (2007)
Defended in “cold case” prosecution of serial rapist who had attacked women at bus stops at night and had then robbed, assaulted and raped them in graveyards and deserted alleyways causing a great deal of fear and distress in the area. The case hinged on forensic evidence which had been obtained several years previously and required detailed knowledge and understanding of the identification of DNA and the development of different forms of testing over the years. The case was taken on appeal and the 16-year sentence imposed by the judge was reduced to 9 years by the Court of Appeal.
R. v. N (2007)
Represented a 15-year-old girl accused of sexually assaulting, robbing and harassing a 16 year old autistic boy in a hostel where they resided. The case was one of the first involving the use of an intermediary to assist the victim to give evidence and was subsequently used in seminars for training purposes.
Janine has been a forerunner in the use of intermediaries in vulnerable witness cases and has lectured on the subject to other practitioners. She has prosecuted and defended in cases where victims suffered from serious mental illnesses such as Bi-Polar Disorder, Tourette’s, Down’s Syndrome and learning disabilities. She is a member of the Victims Advocate Scheme at the Central Criminal Court.
R. v. Butler, Ned and Ors. (2006-7)
Leading in the prosecution of 4 carers who had verbally and physically abused learning disabled adults in a care home over many months. Janine was instructed on the case pre-arrest and was asked to advise on whether the case should be brought bearing in mind the vulnerability of the witnesses which had to be balanced against the public interest in prosecuting cases of this type. All were ultimately convicted of cruelty and neglect charges and imprisoned.
R. v. Pink (2006)
Leading Ruby Hamid in chambers prosecuting a complex “Munchausens by Proxy” case where the mother of a 12-year-old boy had attempted to persuade doctors since his birth that he was frequently having fits and vomiting. This had resulted in many unnecessary surgical procedures and medication being administered to the child over the years. The case involved thousands of pages of medical notes and was further complicated by the fact that Professor Roy Meadow, who had recently been suspended, was an advisor to the main medical expert in the case.
R. v. Mateman and Ors. (2004-5)
Junior counsel in the prosecution by the Murder Suppression Unit of the Met Police of 10 defendants in a drugs and firearms importation resulting in convictions of all 10 and confiscation orders made in substantial sums.
Prison Law:
R. v. Bailey (2008)
Presented a lengthy case before the Parole Board where the prisoner had been convicted over a number of years of manslaughter, followed by two armed robberies and then by a series of eight armed robberies over a period of only a few weeks. Argued successfully that even though the prisoner was unable to accept his guilt of all matters with which he had been convicted he was capable of being paroled having completed all the requisite courses and altered his cognitive thinking sufficiently whilst in prison.
Family Law:
S. v. K (2007)
A difficult and culturally sensitive case acting for the divorced Sikh father of a 5-year-old son whose ex-wife, a Muslim, wished to have the child circumcised against the religious and personal beliefs of the father. The case was heard in the High Court and resulted in the mother agreeing to allow the child to make up his own mind when he reached an age when he was capable of so doing. Father then agreed to withdraw his prohibited steps application.
Re: Dixon children (2002)
Representing the father of 2 small children on an application for PR and contact in care proceedings where he had murdered his partner, the children’s mother, with 47 stab wounds. As the client had been on suicide watch in prison since arrest, great sensitivity was needed to ensure that the likely outcome of the case was explained carefully and with some restraint.
Re: Iannacone child and Re: Cody Children
Representing a mother with schizophrenia and a drug-addicted prostitute mother in care and adoption proceedings. Ensuring adoptions were open and children were given some form of contact to their birth families.
Languages:
- French – conversational
- Hebrew – basic
Janine has been a pupil supervisor for many years and is also an advocacy trainer. She is a senior member of the Education and Training Committee at 18 RLC and frequently chairs Pupillage selection committees.
