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Sophia Roper KC and David Lawson appear in Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust v. GWS & Ors (Capacity) [2025] EWCOP 23 (T3)

18th July 2025

Sophia Roper KC and David Lawson both appeared in Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust v. GWS  & Ors (Capacity) [2025] EWCOP 23 (T3) , where the Vice President of the Court of Protection had to contend with complex capacity evidence relating to a young man with significant physical challenges and a history of using street drugs.  Theis J heard capacity evidence from multiple psychiatrists and treating clinicians and delivered a detailed judgment on the subtle questions of capacity involved.

 


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Rachel Spearing KC Represents Chief Constable of Sussex Police in High-Profile Misconduct Case

16th July 2025

Rachel Spearing KC acted for the Chief Constable of Sussex Police in a high-profile case involving two officers accused of assaulting a 92-year-old man in a care home. The officers were acquitted of criminal charges; however, they now face gross misconduct proceedings.

Read more about the case here: Nimroy Hendricks: Social worker had concerns for killer child – BBC News

Rachel specialises in police law, particularly in cases involving misconduct and public interest considerations. Her experience includes advising on complex operational decisions and representing senior officers in sensitive legal matters.


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Southport Inquiry: John Beggs KC, James Berry KC, Oliver Williamson, Chloe Hill

8th July 2025

The Southport Inquiry, chaired by Sir Adrian Fulford, opened today in Liverpool Town Hall.

On 29 July 2024, Axel Rudakubana carried out a brutal knife attack at a children’s dance club in Southport.  He murdered 3 young girls, Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King, and injured 10 other people. Sixteen others survived the attack but live with the serious emotional consequences.

Phase 1 of the Inquiry aims to (i) establish a definitive account of the events leading up to the Southport attack and the attack itself; and (ii) review the decision-making and information-sharing by local services and agencies which interacted with Axel Rudakubana prior to the attack to examine whether there were opportunities to manage the risk he posed to the public, making any required recommendations for improvements.

The Inquiry is the subject of widespread ongoing media coverage.

James Berry KC and Chloe Hill act for Merseyside Police.

John Beggs KC and Oliver Williamson act for Lancashire Police.


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13 Shortlistings for the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2025

30th June 2025

With thanks to our clients for their ongoing support, we are delighted to announce that – for the third year running – we have been nominated by the Legal 500 as Set of the Year for five of our practice areas, ie Clinical Negligence; Court of Protection; Professional Disciplinary and Regulatory; Public Law; and Public Service and Charities.

Congratulations to our eight barristers who are individually shortlisted as follows:

Clinical negligence Silk of the year – Simon Fox KC  

Corporate crime Silk of the year – Sarah Clarke KC

Court of protection Junior of the year – Rhys Hadden

Court of protection Silk of the year – Bridget Dolan KC  

Court of protection Silk of the year – Nageena Khalique KC

Professional disciplinary and regulatory Junior of the year –  David Morris

Public services and charities Silk of the year – John Beggs KC

Public services and charities Junior of the year – Cecily White

 

 


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Elliot Gold and Cecily White act for IOPC Director General in ‘Child Q’ police misconduct case

27th June 2025

The Independent Office for Police Conduct brought a misconduct case against three police officers involved in a strip-search of ‘child Q’ – a fifteen year old, Black girl. Elliot and Cecily were instructed to advise on and present the case for the Director General.

After a four-week hearing, two officers were dismissed and one received a final written warning for what the misconduct hearing panel described as a “disastrous and negative interaction” between the police and child Q by subjecting her to a strip-search that “should never have been undertaken”.

The IOPC statement is here.

News articles include:

Child Q violated in strip-search, hearing told

Strip-search police told girl she may be arrested

Two Met officers dismissed for gross misconduct after strip-search of black schoolgirl

Two Met officers committed gross misconduct in child Q search, panel says

Officers who strip-searched black girl at school are sacked

Police officers who strip-searched girl, 15, sacked

Elliot Gold’s profile is here.

Cecily White’s profile is here.


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Rachael Gourley represents family of 16-year-old Elise Sebastian who died following neglect and gross failures in her mental health care

20th June 2025

Rachael Gourley, instructed by Amanda Smith and Nina Ali of Hodge, Jones and Allen, represented the bereaved family of Elise Sebastian at the Article 2 jury inquest into her death.

Elise, a vulnerable 16-year-old with autism, died after tying a ligature around her neck on 17 April 2021 whilst a patient under the Mental Health Act 1983 at St Aubyn’s Centre in Essex.

The jury found that Elise’s death could have been prevented or her life prolonged if not for multiple failings in her care, stating that there were two main factors as follows:

(a)    “poorly administered observations due to poor staffing levels and falsified information in observation forms”; and

(b)    “Elise being able to gain access to her room and her observation level in an isolated area not being considered”.

Finding that these factors led directly to Elise tying the fatal ligature, the jury concluded that Elise’s death was contributed to by neglect. The Area Coroner indicated that she will be issuing a Prevention of Future Deaths Report addressed to Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust in respect of Elise’s death. This will be published in due course.

The inquest heard from 30 witnesses, including two expert witnesses, over 5 weeks. Media coverage is available here: BBC, BBC, and ITV.

 


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Serjeants’ Inn specialises in important, high profile medical, police, regulatory, criminal and public law cases, often involving political, ethical or social issues: read more

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Awards

Angus Moon KC 1986 | 2006    Joint Head of Chambers
Michael Horne KC 1992 | 2016    Joint Head of Chambers
Adrian Hopkins KC 1984 | 2003
John Beggs KC 1989 | 2009
Michael Mylonas KC 1988 | 2012
John de Bono KC 1995 | 2014
Dijen Basu KC 1994 | 2015
Nageena Khalique KC 1994 | 2015
Katie Gollop KC 1993 | 2016
Simon Fox KC 1994 | 2016
Bridget Dolan KC 1997 | 2016
Gerard Boyle KC 1992 | 2017
Sarah Clarke KC 1994 | 2017
Debra Powell KC 1995 | 2017
Jon Holl-Allen KC 1990 | 2018
Mark Harries KC 1995 | 2019
Ian Skelt KC 1994 | 2020
Sophia Roper KC 1990 | 2022
Claire Watson KC 2001 | 2022
Neil Davy KC 2000 | 2023
Emma Sutton KC 2006 | 2023
George Thomas KC 1995 | 2025
Rachel Spearing KC 1999 | 2025
James Berry KC 2006 | 2025
Laura Nash 2009
Jemma Lee 2010
Liam Duffy 2012
Chloe Hill 2019
Sir Robert Francis KC 1973 | 1992    Associate Member
James Watson KC 1979 | 2000    Associate Member
His Honour Brian Barker CBE KC 1969 | 1990    Associate Member
Natalie Cargill 2016    Associate Member
Susan Burden 1985    Door Tenant
Anthony Jackson 1995    Door Tenant
Benedict Wray 2009    Door Tenant