Ilana Davis

Recent instructions have included:

Violence and public disorder

• R v MM & others (2026, Warwick) – successfully represented one of five defendants acquitted of a retaliation s18 GBH in which the defendants ran ‘cut-throat’ defences; the only acquittal in the case.
• Operation Awe (2025, Stoke on Trent) – led prosecution junior in a factually challenging prosecution of 21 defendants, tried over three separate trials; superintended disclosure of particularly voluminous material where the disclosure schedule was served in seven phases and ran to hundreds of pages.
• R v FO & LW (2025, Birmingham) – prosecuted a father charged with wilful assault of their 9-month-old son; conducted examination-in-chief of a consultant paediatrician addressing causation of a spiral fracture of the baby’s femur; advised on obtaining and disclosing family court and social services documents relating to the baby.
• R v RH & others (2025, Stoke on Trent) – prosecuted 14 defendants across 13 indictments for allegations of violence and public disorder at HMYOI Werrington involving makeshift weapons; collated comprehensive sentencing notes addressing the disparate facts and the applicable law for sentencing youths, some of whom had since attained maturity.
• R v J (2022, Nottingham) – prosecuted a 12-year-old defendant for an LGBT hate crime on another child; conducted examination-in-chief of a vulnerable 12-year-old victim; cross-examined a young defendant with appropriate sensitivity and firmness and secured finding of guilt.
• R v H (2022, Wolverhampton) – successfully represented defendant acquitted of attempted s18 GBH; the defendant had suffered more serious injuries than the complainant and expert evidence demonstrated it was the defendant’s blood on the alleged weapon.
• R v R (2021, Derby) – successfully represented defendant acquitted of resisting arrest after demonstrating that the police officers’ behaviour was “appalling” resulting in an unlawful arrest.
• R v T (2020, Birmingham) – represented defendant at first appearance charged with attempted murder.

Firearms

• R v AT & others (2026, Wolverhampton) – represented one of three defendants charged with robbery armed with an imitation firearm and knife in a dwelling in which the defendants ran ‘cut-throat’ defences.
• R v G & W (2023, Warwick) – prosecuted two defendants for possession of an imitation firearm and racially aggravated public order offences on a train.
• R v F (2023, Nottingham) – prosecuted a young Autistic defendant for possession of an imitation firearm and affray after they fired an air pistol at moving traffic.

Drug dealing

• Operation Desatar (2025, Stoke on Trent) – prosecuted 5 defendants charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin, involved issues of modern day slavery.
• Operation Brutus (2023, Warwick) – led junior in a factually challenging prosecution of 13 defendants for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis and conspiracy to produce cannabis.

Dishonesty

• R v DB (2026, Stafford) – prosecuted carer for defrauding his patient by abusing his position.
• R v PB & RH (2025, Stafford) – prosecuted company manager and administrator for defrauding their employer by making false representations to customers.
• R v AS & KK (2025, Stoke on Trent) – prosecuted warehouse operative and their partner for defrauding employer by abusing position to divert parcels from their intended recipient.
• R v W & others (2023, Wolverhampton) – prosecuted 7 defendants across 2 indictments for a series of burglaries, including aggravated burglary, dwelling burglary and conspiracy to commit commercial burglaries.
• R v CG & TM (2023, Stafford) – prosecuted a former soldier charged with stealing military equipment from Beacon Barracks, Staffordshire and an eBay retailer for handling those stolen goods.
• R v C (2022, Birmingham) – prosecuted a defendant charged with armed robbery during which a student was stopped at knifepoint in the street and then taken to his home where his laptop was stolen.
• R v T (2022, Birmingham) – prosecuted off-duty police officer for shoplifting from John Lewis; persuaded the court that expert evidence that the defendant could not have formed intent was inadmissible.
• R v W (2021, Court of Appeal) – persuaded the Court of Appeal that the sentence imposed for an attempt dwelling burglary was manifestly excessive.

Sexual offences

• R v S (2025, Wolverhampton) – prosecuted a defendant at sentence for grooming multiple teenage girls online and inciting them to engage in sexual activity.
• R v L (2024, Worcester) – led defence junior on an 11-count indictment containing multiple allegations of rape, coercive and controlling behaviour and other sexual offences; defendant acquitted of all counts save one.
• R v D (2023, Worcester) – represented a prisoner at first appearance, accused of raping a fellow prisoner.
• R v G (2021, Birmingham) – represented 77-year-old defendant at sentence for sexual offences committed between 1969 – 1972.
• R v D (2019, Cannock) – represented 18-year-old defendant acquitted of sexually assaulting an Autistic, youth complainant in a park after demonstrating that the interviewing police officer had led the evidence of penetration from the complainant during their ABE.

Administration of justice

• R v A (2025, Shrewsbury) – prosecuted a defendant for perverting the course of justice after they had made a series of 21 false allegations of domestic violence against their ex-partner and created fake evidence to support those allegations.