South Eastern Circuit [SEC] (Recorder and BBA Representative)
Barristers' Benevolent Association [BBA] (Committee Member)
Criminal Bar Association [CBA]
Herts and Beds Bar Mess (Committee Member)
North London Bar Mess
Proceeds of Crime Lawyers' Association [POCLA]
British Association for Sport and the Law [BASL]
Fred Ferguson was called to the Bar in 1978 having read law at University College, Oxford.
Fred has focused his practice on white collar crime and serious criminal offences.
He defends in cases of murder and other offences of violence, serious fraud, corruption, money laundering and confiscation, drug trafficking, rape and other sexual offences (including offences against minors), arson, offences against intellectual property and public order.
He works in the same areas for the prosecution although the balance is towards fraud. He is on the CPS London Fraud Prosecution Service list. He has appeared in several cases for the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) and has been instructed by the OFT to provide advice in relation to seeking warrants in the High Court to obtain evidence with a view to prosecution.
He has conducted a number of confiscation cases under the DTA 1994, CJA 1988 and POCA 2002.
Fred's client care skills are well recognised and he has been chosen often to deal with mentally disabled or vulnerable defendants and complainants. He is experienced in Special Measures cases.
He deals on a regular basis with expert witnesses in fields such as psychology, pathology, neurology, accountancy, mobile telephones and property.
Commentaries
Legal Experts 2009 - Fraud (Asset Recovery): Fred is described as one of the leading lights in the UK Legal profession.
R v Forteath and Connally (2011) First defendant obtaining leave to remain in country through sham marriage and committing frauds based on forged wills and acts of perjury to obtain probate to the estates of two individuals whose estates had a total value in the region of £725,000. Further acts of perjury by making false accusations against witnesses after discovery of the first series of frauds. Second defendant, husband of the first defendant, involved in relation to the second estate. Leading junior. 4 week prosecution trial.
Re G (2010) Advising the former managing director of a company responsible for providing power services in Kenya. He had set up a private company which received commissions in Jersey for advice he had given to entities seeking to make bids for contracts relating to power services in Africa. The allegations are of corruption and money laundering £2.6m.
R v Bushiri (2010) Obtaining of grants for a charity. The defendant set up an organisation for which charitable status was obtained. Issue of whether grants obtained were put to proper use. Defence trial.
R v Suleman and others (2009) Confiscation proceedings. Junior counsel for one of four defendants against whom the SFO claimed benefit figures of £1 million each. Five day hearing. Realisable assets of this defendant assessed as £19.28.
R v Halai (2009) Confiscation proceedings. Leading Junior for defendant against whom the DWP claimed a benefit figure of £15 million. Listed for 4-week hearing. Prosecution accepted benefit figure of approximately £29,000.
R v Notta (2009) Conspiracy to commit fraud. Prosecution trial.
R v Suleman and others (2008) Allegation of conspiracy to defraud investors. Five defendants. Junior for first defendant. VHCC. Three month trial.
R v Hauxwell-Smith and others (2001-7). SFO investigation into corruption by a supplier to an international retail company, of employees within the company. Estimated value of trade obtained was in the region of £26m. Corrupt benefits obtained were in excess of £1m. First junior for prosecution. One defendant applied to appeal a ruling in relation to disclosure made in the course of the preparatory hearing. The House of Lords ruled on the issue of whether an application under s8 CPIA 1996, made in the course of a preparatory hearing, can be the subject of an interlocutory appeal (R v H [2007] 2 WLR 364).
R v Smith (2006) Conspiracy to defraud the Inland Revenue. Five defendants. Defence VHCC. Leading junior for manager of tax office.
R v Kantaria (2003) False accounting, falsifying/withholding of prescriptions to defraud PPA. Defence trial.
R v Anthony Kramer and others (1997) Conspiracy to defraud - Prosecution - Leading Counsel for CPS HQ - five Defendants - trial of one Defendant - Instructed in related DTI case - Case concerned the activities of defendants in relation to a scheme to sell vouchers to companies, businesses and organisations; offering them free flights. Complex issues involved.
General Crime
R v Wallis (2011) Allegations of cruelty to daughters of partner in 80s, beginning when girls were 3 and 1, involving striking the eldest every day with various implements, scalding her and forcing her hand on to glass. Eldest spoke of being forced to remain in the kitchen working until late night/ early morning. Indictment stayed; followed by NG verdicts. Defence trial.
R v Watt (2010) Allegations involving keeping an adult in the family home, as a slave, over a number of years, torturing him, taking his benefit money and finally killing him, followed by dismembering his body and disposing of the headless corpse in the Blue Lagoon at Arlsey, Bedfordshire. The trial lasted seven weeks. Leading counsel for Mr. Watts, 'head of the household' who was acquitted of all charges against him, namely familial homicide and perverting the course of justice.
R v Nwankwo (2010) Prosecuting counsel. Importation of approximately 0.5 kilo cocaine valued at up to £320,000, concealed in the retractable handle of a suitcase. The case was intercepted at Heathrow but delivered to its intended address by undercover officers. There were four defendants including the occupier of an address in the same block of flats as the delivery address, an acquaintance who was there to intercept the drugs and two of his friends, who had parked in a car near the scene. Two week trial.
R v S (2010) Allegations of anal and vaginal rape of daughter every weekend during contact visits when she was between the ages of 2 and 4. Defence trial.
R v Horton (2010) Arson, reckless as to whether life endangered. Planned explosion in concrete bin. Issue of whether the resultant explosion was capable of endangering life. Defence trial.
R v Omolewa (2010) Allegation that a drug dealer had punished a courier, who had lost two consignments of cocaine, by tying his hands behind his back and inflicting several wounds on his hands, arms, head and face by cutting him with a short bladed knife. Defence trial.
R v Pustelnik (2009) Leading counsel for one of two defendants charged with murder. The defendants had chased the victim in the street and had punched and kicked him. Death resulting from subdural haemorrhage. Issue of causation. Accident, or act of other defendant. Three week trial.
Re Nasir Khan (2009) was an application seeking permission to judicially review the decision of the Criminal Cases Review Commission not to refer the Claimant’s case to the Court of Appeal. The Claimant had been convicted of murder. His case was that he had been kidnapped by two men and driven by them in his own car to the forecourt of the block of flats where he lived. He said that as the driver was getting out of the car he was able to grab his gun and leave the car from the passenger side. The driver had advanced towards him with a knife and he had shot him. He had then shot the other man as he was getting out of the car, believing that he had a gun and was going to kill him. A neighbour gave evidence and stated that, from her window, she had seen a male (matching the description of the Claimant) exit from the driver’s door of the car and fire a gun into the car. The application was based on the premise that the CCRC had misdirected itself in concluding that there had been a proper consideration of the neighbour’s medical history by the original prosecuting authority and in concluding that appropriate disclosure relating to that history had been made prior to the original trial.
R v Taylor (2009) Counsel for one of three defendants charged with conspiracy to steal metal, belonging to Network Rail and criminal damage, being reckless as to whether life was endangered. The defendants had trespassed on to railway lines and had cut out large sections of heavy duty power cabling, lying in concrete troughs beside the railway lines, and telephone lines. The cables were used to carry power and transmit safety signals. The material and labour cost of replacing the cable, and fines which had been imposed on Network Rail, and others, because of the consequential delays to trains came to £225,000. Three week trial.
R v Bolton (2009) Allegations of sexual assault and oral rape, committed against a 5 year old girl. Defence trial.
R v Becon and Sorhaindo (2009) Allegations of kidnap, gbh and attempted robbery. The victim had been offered a ride in a car and had been taken to a flat where he had been taped up, beaten and tortured with an electric iron, in an attempt to obtain money. Issues under sections 114 and 116 of CJA 2003 relating to absent witness. Prosecution trial.
R v Anita S (2008) Allegations of indecent assaults including allegations of sexual intercourse by woman with children aged between 5 and 11. Defence trial. Cross examination of vulnerable witnesses and expert.
R v Lamb (2008) Allegation of murder. Defence. Liaison with expert witnesses for Defence and Prosecution. Dealt with as a plea to manslaughter.
R v Davis (2007) Being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and money laundering. Defence. Prosecution claimed benefit of £1.6 million.
R v Boakye-Dankwe (2005-7) Alleged murder of two flat-mates in axe attack. Further allegation of attempted murder involving chasing intended victim through street to a hotel. Defence. Trial of issue of fitness to plead. Subsequently, Prosecution accepted pleas to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.
R v Thomas (2006) Being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine and facilitating the retention of criminal property. Leading junior for the first defendant involved in network to supply drugs. Money had been transferred to Trinidad.
R v Webster (2005-6)Rape/Indecent Assault/Making Indecent Photographs/Possessing Indecent Photographs. Defence. Guilty pleas. Issues of being caught “red handed”, discount for guilty plea and double jeopardy raised in a Sentencing Reference by the Attorney-General (see Attorney-General’s Reference Numbers 14 and 15 of 2006 (Tanya French and Alan Webster [2007] 1 Cr App R(S) 215). Court of Appeal adjourned original hearing to enable a five judge Court including the LCJ to hear the matter. Legal aid was extended for a QC to lead in those proceedings.
R v Armstrong and others (Clipston) (2005) Conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Leading junior defending one of eight defendants. Plea to substantive count in course of trial. VHCC.
R v Aliu (2005)Murder/Kidnapping. Advised in relation to the time limits operating in circumstances where defendant has been extradited under the Extradition Act 2003. Allegation of gang murder related to a drug dispute. Retrial following failure by the jury to reach a verdict. Defence. Junior counsel for defendant.
R v McAuliffe (2005) Attempted Murder. Pleas to attempted GBH accepted. Sending incendiary/explosive devices through the post. Defence.
R v Forester and others (2004) Murder/Violent Disorder. Issues of joint enterprise and causation. Defence trial. Junior counsel for defendant.
R v Gibson (2004) Attempted Rape. Prosecution trial.
R v Hearne (2004) Indecent Assault of grand-children (11 - 15 years). Prosecution trial.
R v Bryce and others (2002) Murder. Consideration of involvement required to constitute aiding and abetting and whether knowledge required is same as party to joint enterprise. Defence trial. Junior counsel for defendant. Appeal (see R v Bryce [2004] 2 Cr App R 592).
