Barra McGrory KC

European Court of Human Rights

I have been engaged in two landmark cases against the UK Government in this Court. In Mc Cann, Savage and Farrell v UK (1995 ECHR 18984/91), I argued, along with co-counsel, Professor Douwe Korff, the case for the families of three individuals shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar on 6^th March 1988. This involved preparation of lengthy written and oral arguments before the Commission and then the Grand Chamber of the Court. This is a seminal case in the development of modern article 2 ECHR jurisprudence. In Shannon v UK (2005 ECHR 6563/03) I succeeded in arguing that compulsory interviews introduced under Proceeds of Crime legislation breached a citizen’s article 6 rights when conducted in parallel with a criminal investigation on the same facts.

Bloody Sunday Inquiry

I represented eleven individuals including the late Martin Mc Guinness MP and former Deputy First Minister in the Bloody Sunday inquiry. Mr Mc Guinness was accused of contributing to the deaths of those killed by the British Army that day by initiating gun and bomb attacks on the military and provoking the shootings. Counsel was not available for a series of important cross examinations and the client asked me to conduct them, which I did to significant effect. I also drafted in their entirety; the written submissions made on behalf of Mr Mc Guinness. This led subsequently to my successful appointment as Queen’s Counsel with supporting references from Lord Saville of Newdigate (Chairman of the Inquiry), Counsel to the Inquiry, Christopher Clarke QC, as he then was and the late Richard Ferguson QC.

Advocacy Training

I attended the US National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) training course for advocacy trainers in Harvard USA in 1999 and taught advocacy for many years thereafter with NITA tutors for the Law Society Higher Courts Advocacy Certificate. I was admitted to the International Society of Barristers in the United States of America in 2008.

Queen’s Counsel

I was the first and only solicitor to be awarded the rank of Queen’s Counsel in June 2007. I subsequently transferred to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2009. Between 2007 and 2011 I appeared in a series of Crown Court jury trials involving a range of serious offences including drugs trafficking, internet pornography and serious sex abuse.

Robert Hamill Inquiry

I appeared as Queen’s Counsel for the family of the late Robert Hamill who was beaten to death on a street in a sectarian attack, which occurred within view of a police patrol vehicle. A subsequent prosecution of one of the members of that patrol for tipping-off a suspect was withdrawn by the then DPP in controversial circumstances. I appeared in the preliminary hearings that determined issues of anonymity and screening that ultimately led to the case of RE: Officer L 2007 UKHL 36 and a judicial review initiated by the then DPP concerning the scope of the terms of reference. The hearings in the case lasted a full 12 months between 2009 and 2010 by which time I had taken silk and led junior counsel in the case during which many witnesses were examined, and lengthy and detailed submissions made. The Inquiry is yet to report as the prosecution of the Policeman has been renewed and is pending.

Rosemary Nelson Inquiry

I was instructed by the husband of the later Rosemary Nelson, a solicitor who was murdered by an under-car booby trap bomb on 15^th March 1999, to represent the interests of Rosemary’s immediate family in the public inquiry into her death. This, along with the Robert Hamill Inquiry, was one of four public inquiries recommended by Judge Peter Corey, known as the ‘collusion inquiries’, as part of the Irish peace process. As it overlapped with the Hamill Inquiry (see above) and I was a witness, I was unable to take an advocacy brief but managed a team of advocates and other lawyers in this important public inquiry

Director of Public Prosecutions

I served as DPP for Northern Ireland between November 2011 and December 2017.

As the Northern Ireland DPP is required to personally consent to the bringing of charges in a wide range of offences under counter terrorism legislation, I was the decision maker in all such cases and was security cleared to the highest level (Develop Vetted). I also took the prosecutorial decisions and gave advice and directions in a wide range of serious and complex criminal cases including murders, manslaughter, complex fraud, and money laundering. This necessitated an up to date and deep working knowledge of the criminal law at a very high level.

A significant part of the role of a DPP is to develop prosecutorial policy and to oversee the efficient running of the prosecution service. In my six years in this role, I developed new policies on communications, established a Victim and Witness Care Unit with specially trained staff dedicated to keeping victims and witnesses informed of case developments and made significant changes to the way in which disclosure is reviewed by prosecutors. I also had to address a 20% cut in the PPS budget and redesigned the organisation from top to bottom in terms of centralisations of functions to maximise effficiences.

Unusually for a DPP, I retained and advocacy role appearing regularly in the Court of Appeal, in unduly lenient sentencing applications and some appeals, the UK Supreme Court

in R v Brown UKSC 2011/0233.

I was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2016, in anticipation of my return to private practice the following year. I have appeared for the defence in a major SOCPA trial in Northeast England involving a shooting incident between rival drugs gangs in Sunderland, murder in Newcastle Upon Tyne and recently, in Bristol Crown Court, where I defended the co-founder of the neo-Nazi terrorist group, National Action. I have appeared in the High Court, Commercial Division for the Royal Bank of Scotland Shareholders Action Group in ongoing satellite litigation arising from the successful claim taken by shareholders against the bank in 2017.

I am a member of the Bar of Ireland, where I was called as a Senior Counsel in 2021, having appeared there in a series of cases as a visiting QC. These included successfully arguing two cases in the Supreme Court of Ireland, one of which (DPP v Almasi [2020 IESC 000]) resulted in the quashing of a murder conviction and broke new ground in the development of the law of the defence of provocation. I remained in the case in two further re-trials in which juries failed to agree on the charge of murder. The DPP eventually accepted a plea to manslaughter. I have also appeared in the High Court of Ireland, Chancery Division, for a major property developer in a contested bankruptcy extension application in which a fraud was alleged. I appear regularly for the defence in the Circuit Courts and Central Criminal Court of Ireland in a range of criminal cases including serious sexual offences, money laundering, driving death offences and unlawful importation of drugs and tobacco.

I remain an active member of the Bar of Northern Ireland where I appear regularly as leading counsel in criminal trials for both the defence and prosecution. These include the most serious sexual offences, murder, health and safety death cases and complex fraud and tax evasion.

I have considerable advocacy experience in complex and sensitive inquests both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland including the Springhill inquests before Mr Justice Scofield that ran from October 2023 to the end of April 2024, concluding on the last day before such inquests were abolished by the UK government in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy Act) 2023.  I was ‘develop vetted’ when DPP and this was renewed in 2021 by the Legacy Inquest Unit of the Office of the Lady Chief Justice. Current public inquiry work includes representation of the majority of the sexual abuse victims of Bill Kenneally, the convicted Basketball Ireland coach, currently chaired by Judge Michael White in the Southeastern Commission. I am a member of both the Coroner’s Senior Counsel Panel and the Senior Counsel Panel of the Independent commission for Reconciliation and information Recovery (ICRIR), established under the Legacy Act.

Kevin Winters, KRW Law, 9-15 Queen Street, Belfast.

James Mc Guill, Solicitor, 27 Merchant’s Quay, Dublin, D08 H5Y3