spend all my time dealing with this area of law alone, I would become more knowledgeable than other lawyers and better able to defend my clients. As far as I am aware, we are now the only law firm in the UK that only handles sexual defence work. Concentrating solely on sexual allegations has enabled me to build what I believe is the country’s leading sexual defence firm. What types of sexual offence cases have you worked on over the last 20 years and how have sex crimes and defending sexual offences evolved during this period? Sexual offences can be split into two categories; those committed by personal contact (sexual assault, rape, harassment, coercive behaviour, etc) and those committed over the internet where no personal contact takes place (indecent images, revenge porn, grooming, incitement, etc). 20 years ago, very few offences were There is also a massive imbalance of power between the prosecution and defence. The police, with all their powers to investigate, are part of the State. Cases are prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), again part of the State. People making complaints are now given considerable support from the state, with specially trained police officers, support staff and counsellors. The defendant, on the other hand, has no support from anyone. I wanted to try and rebalance the power, to try and achieve a fair and just outcome. It is a massive honour to represent any client and thereby be the only person fighting to ensure they are not convicted. PCD Solicitors only handle sexual offence cases. This is quite unique. How did this come about? I recognised many years ago that to become the best at something, you had to specialise. I wanted to concentrate on offences carrying the most severe sentences and those that have the most impact on the lives of those accused. I have always wanted to protect people against false allegations and wrongful convictions. Many years ago, I started to notice a year-on-year increase in sexual allegations, largely as a result of information appearing on the internet. There was also a massive increase in those accused claiming the allegations were false. Social media, dating sites, chat rooms, the ‘#MeToo’ movement, attention-seeking disorders and other mental health issues have all played a part in people willing to claim they are victims of sexual assaults (whether true or false). I set up a law firm to specialise in sexual defence work, with particular emphasis on identifying and defending false allegations. I figured that if I could 18 LAWYER MONTHLY FEBRUARY 2024 Many years ago, I started to notice a yearon-year increase in sexual allegations, largely as a result of information appearing on the internet.
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