Edmund Vickers KC

Ed both defends and prosecutes in cases of Murder & Manslaughter, Fraud and Corruption and Serious & Organised Crime cases. His skills in cross-examination, dealing with experts and analysing detail has led to a growing Business Crime & Fraud practice (Bribery and Corruption, Complex Fraud, Money Laundering & Proceeds of Crime as well as cases before the tax tribunal).

In 2022-24 Ed was instructed by the Anti-Corruption Commission Seychelles to lead the investigation and prosecution of a multi-million-pound corruption and money laundering case, involving senior figures in government over many years. The case involved cooperation with law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions, including the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and Singapore. The case is likely to be tried by the Chief Justice in 2025. Ed led the prosecution team of lawyers and investigators for two years, securing a global assets restraint order against the main defendant together with civil confiscation of assets, and led successful litigation in the Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal. Ed advised on numerous complex issues including mutual legal assistance requests, cross-jurisdictional investigations, legal privilege, digital forensics and e-disclosure, as well as issues relating to Constitutional Law, Company Law, Trusts and the beneficial ownership of companies. Ed also presented a paper on corruption and the rule of law at the International Anti-Corruption Day seminar held in Seychelles in 2022.

Back in the UK, Ed has been asked to advise companies and individuals involved in business, tax and complex fraud investigations, and will advise at an early stage so that strategic decisions can be made involving matters such as voluntary disclosure, Legal Professional Privilege and confidentiality.

Ed has appeared in many high-profile cases particularly at the Old Bailey and Southwark Crown Court, and has enjoyed success in cases as diverse as defending protesters storming the House of Commons, prosecuting police officers in the Tuition Fees Riot in Parliament Sq, and successfully defending in the UK’s first FGM trial. Ed is instructed by a wide range of solicitors firms and prosecuting authorities and has over 30 years’ experience of advocacy and providing legal advice, both defending and prosecuting, in the UK and internationally.

Ed is a lead advocacy trainer at the Middle Temple and is a member of the scholarship panel at the Inn. He is a trustee and former treasurer of the Kalisher Trust, a charity that encourages and supports students from non-traditional backgrounds to go on to higher education and pursue a career in the law, promoting greater diversity throughout the criminal justice system. He is currently lead trustee of the Kalisher Trust mentoring programme, pairing students with senior members of the Bar and judiciary. In 2022, Ed was elected a Master of the Bench (a member of the governing body) of the Middle Temple Inn of Court in London.

In 2021, Ed chaired the Criminal Bar Association C-21 Working Group, examining issues facing criminal practitioners in the Crown Court. The report was published in January 2022 and called for the establishment of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice without further delay. Report

Fraud

Ed is regularly instructed in complex fraud cases, where focussed preparation, the martialling of large amounts of material and early, detailed analysis of the central issues are critical.

Ed has also been privately instructed to prosecute numerous trademark fraud cases at the Magistrates Court.

Featured cases

• R v P and others – Successful Insolvency Service prosecution of multi handed ‘long firm fraud’.
• R v D and others – Successful prosecution of money laundering operation through bureau de change.
• R v C – Successfully led for prosecution in £1.2m EU grants fraud administered by the Home Office.
• R v D – Successfully led for prosecution in a seven-handed £10m money laundering case.
• R v S – £500k advance fees fraud in mobile phone industry.
• R v O – Abuse of trust fraud by a carer who persuaded two clients to make her their main beneficiary in their wills, whilst systematically stealing from their accounts.
• R v P – Sophisticated £200k art fraud in which pictures by Warhol, Kitaj and Munch were allegedly copied and sold at auction.
• R v F – Identity fraud involving the setting up of false bank accounts by a bank employee.
• R v P – £5m business rates fraud by council employee.
• R v B – £300k fees fraud by an insurance broker. 

Murder & Manslaughter

Ed regularly appears for either the prosecution or defence in murder cases in London (principally at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey) and around the country. He has particular expertise in cross examining experts in the fields of pathology, histopathology, ballistics and DNA.

He has also advised, pro bono, in capital and non-capital murder cases for death row prisoners seeking to appeal from the West Indies to the Privy Council.

Featured cases

• Recent notable cases include:
• R v L – Successful defence in a multi-handed murder trial.
• R v W – Instructed for the defence in a murder where the victim was left in persistent vegetative state died 13 years after original assault.
• R v M– Instructed for the defence of a gang-member in a Birmingham drive-by shooting.
• R v T– Instructed for the defence of a youth in a London East End gang murder.
• R v S – Successful defence of a vulnerable man accused of murder.
• R v W – Successful defence of a gang/drugs related murder.
• R v H – Successful defence of 14-year-old boy in a murder allegation.
• R v H – Instructed for the defence of wife accused of murdering her husband.
• R v L – Successful defence of a murder in HMP Coldingley.
• R v O – Conspiracy by police officers to pervert the course of justice following an assault on a political protester in Parliament Square.
• R v P – Gang murder/perverting the course of justice.

Proceeds of Crime and Confiscation

​​Ed has vast experience in money laundering and confiscation cases and is particularly familiar with its complexities.

Featured cases

• Anti-Corruption Commission Seychelles v MV and others – prosecuting a complex corruption and money laundering case, involving international asset restraint and forfeiture.
• R v D and others – Instructed to lead for the prosecution in a seven-handed £10m money laundering case.
• R v W and others – Large scale conspiracy to launder millions of pounds of drugs money and mortgage fraud.
• R v M – Money laundering profits from internet ‘escort agencies’.
• HMRC v K & K – Money lenders and money bureau fraud – conspiracy to launder millions of pounds through MSBs.
• R v M and others – £500k fraud against charities such as Comic Relief and Children in Need.
• R v S and S – High-profile London City Bond cases, involving massive scale money laundering. Led by two QCs.

Serious & Organised Crime

Ed has been instructed in a series of high profile organised crime cases.

Featured cases

• R v R – Successfully defended in a 12-handed conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in the Midlands and West Yorkshire.
• R v W – Successfully prosecuted five defendants in a large scale conspiracy to supply firearms to the criminal underworld in South London.
• R v N – Series of armed robberies of bookmakers.
• R v W – Successfully defended in a large scale conspiracy to launder drugs money.
• R v S – Successful prosecution of conspiracy to steal copper wiring from railways/London Underground by Eastern European gangs.
• R v T – £1.75m armed robbery of secure currency warehouse at Heathrow Airport