Theresa Hunt

Year of Call: 2007
 

Other Information

CPS Grade 3
On the RASSO panel

Career overview

Prior to joining Citadel, Theresa was employed for 12 years by a leading criminal firm, as in-house counsel, where her practice ranged widely and most often involved offences of the utmost gravity. Theresa’s skills in rape cases have been honed by her vast number of appearances in cases of this nature. This includes all types of sexual offending, such as: historic, familial, relationship, stranger rape cases and those involving complainants with all types of vulnerability and those of the youngest ages. Theresa has experience in cases involving child cruelty and neglect as well as child abduction both international and domestic in nature. 

Theresa also has experience in cases of: homicide including cases of murder and manslaughter; violence; dishonesty; fraud and cases of a regulatory nature. Theresa possesses a particularly detailed knowledge of regulatory provisions, having contributed to a leading practitioners’ text in respect of regulatory law and provisions.

Practice Summary

Sexual offences:

R v M 2016: defence case of a middle-aged man accused of raping 3 complainants (aged 18-20) in various ways over a protracted period, coercing them into prostitution and sexually torturing them. Not guilty verdicts were secured in relation to many of the counts on the indictment, including rapes, but he was found guilty in respect of other counts. 

R v F 2017: defence case of a mother who was jointly charged, with her partner and both paternal grandparents, with extreme sexual abuse and rapes of three of her children. The abuse included using live lizards to penetrate the vagina of one of the children.  

R v P 2020: defence case involving sensitive and complex proceedings, representing an accused who had severe learning difficulties, ADHD and autism, for rape of a child under 13 who was impregnated and had a child as a result at the age of 12.  

R v H 2021: defence case of a man who repeatedly raped and ultimately, impregnated a very young child who in consequence gave birth to a baby.

R v S 2022: defence case in a trial concerning an exceptionally harrowing “stranger rape” attack, the details of which were later used in a television documentary. This was a repeat rape offender who received a life sentence. 

R v S 2022: successfully defended and secured a Not Guilty verdict in a rape case where there were complex and disputed scientific expert evidence and disclosure issues. 

R v S 2023: defence case concerning a lengthy indictment spanning a period of years, involving a coercive and controlling relationship, multiple rapes including one at knifepoint and other violent offences. 

R v H 2023: defence case in this 3-week-trial where there were four separate complainants which concerned twenty-one counts on the indictment of rape and other sexual offences; mixed verdicts were returned.  

R v Y 2023: successfully defended and secured a Not Guilty verdict in an alleged oral rape case. 

R v M 2024: successfully defended and secured a Not Guilty verdict in respect of an allegation of anal rape whereby the complainant was found naked and unconscious, leaking faeces, where the accused admitted a physical assault but denied sexual contact.

R v G 2024: successfully defended and secured Not Guilty verdicts in a rape trial where the alleged victim had provided sexual services for payment. 

R v M 2024: successfully defended and secured Not Guilty verdicts in a rape trial where there were complex “section 41” issues due to both parties engaging in sexual activity with other witnesses during the timeframe of the alleged rape. 

Child Cruelty and Child Abduction:

R v H 2021: defence case of a father accused of international child abduction.

R v O 2022: successfully defended and secured a Not Guilty verdict for a father facing allegations of child cruelty of his baby who sustained multiple grave injuries. 

R v W 2024: defence case of a mother on trial, alongside the father, for causing or allowing a serious injury to a young baby by way of “baby shaking”. 

R v C 2024: defence case concerning trafficking of a child for sexual exploitation. 

Homicide:

R v S 2015: defence case of a man who was convicted of the murder of his friend, who had been living with him and both of their partners at the defendant’s home, in an oppressive arrangement whereby the deceased was compelled to renovate his house. The defendant dismembered the body of the deceased, distributed it into two suitcases and dumped these into a canal. 

R v B 2016: defence case of young homeless man for double murder and attempted murder. The victim of the attempt murder was the husband of the deceased woman and the other deceased victim was their child. The defendant had been “taken in” by the family who had tried to help to change the fortunes of the defendant. 

R v M 2020: defence case of a man who went on a stabbing spree around Birmingham City Centre, stabbing eight victims, involving counts of murder, attempted murder and section 18. 

R v D 2023: defence case of the lead defendant in a five-week, five handed murder trial, representing the driver of the car which collided with the deceased and three other people and a dog. Two of the surviving victims were children who gave evidence and the third was left brain damaged. 

Violence:

R v B 2018, Operation Crackle:  successfully defended and secured Not Guilty verdicts to all counts in a retrial for conspiracy to commit armed robberies of cash in transit vans (G4S) and other offences. 

R v M 2019: successfully defended and secured a Not Guilty verdict for a teacher, in a very sensitive case, whereby she faced an allegation of ABH against a disabled child at a special needs school. 

R v S 2020: defence case concerning charges of attempted murder of three defendants who had stabbed each other. 

Operation Harvest 2020: defence case involving wide scale conspiracies to commit extremely violent robberies and possession of firearms. 

R v B 2021: defence case of attempted murder by one woman on another, using a stone statue as a weapon.

R v E 2021: successfully defended and secured Not Guilty verdicts to all counts on the indictment. The defendant drove after 3 young men who were driving mopeds and knocked them off their mopeds in a road rage incident, causing life changing injuries. 

R v S 2022:  successfully defended and secured Not Guilty verdicts to all 9 counts the indictment, including robbery, section 18 and possession of an imitation firearm.

Details of practice

Podcasts

Photos

videos

Further Information

Downloads

Witness Familiarisation Support And Courses

These are a few examples of courses in which our members have been involved:

  • Witness familiarisation with trainee police officers and special constables from Northamptonshire Police, where the officers were questioned regarding their statements about ‘mock’ arrest exercises
  • Similar exercises with detectives from the West Midlands Police
  • Witness familiarisation with officers of the Northamptonshire Probation Service.  These officers were given training on the process of giving evidence in sentencing hearings in the Magistrates Court and Crown Court
  • Expert witness familiarisation and training, with expert witnesses such as independent Forensic Scientists, and officers of the Health and Safety Executive. The exercises involved questioning regarding expert reports prepared by the participants

Equal Opportunity Policy

 

Citadel’s members come from a range of backgrounds and everyone is treated with the same respect as part of our Chamber’s community. 

 

We operate an equal opportunity policy and act in accordance with the Bar Code of Conduct and the Equality Code for the Bar.

 

We seek to prevent direct or indirect discrimination towards our clients, staff, tenants and pupils, on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality or citizenship, political persuasion, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability or age.

Maternity / Paternity Policy

We support all members  who  are fortunate enough to become parents.   Whilst Citadel has written policies dealing with issues of maternity and paternity leave for members of Chambers and support staff, we also try to be flexible in our approach and to accommodate individual needs.

Uniquely (to our knowledge) we offer direct financial support to members returning from parental leave in order to cushion the cash flow impact of return to practice . 

Click here to listen to a podcast about our members with children and how we deal with childcare issues.