Our Expertise
St Pauls Chambers provides legal services throughout the UK and worldwide. We are known for providing excellence in our areas of focus.
As a leading barristers chambers in Leeds, our expertise span the depth and breadth of a number of key areas of law.
Our People
St Pauls Chambers have an excellent team of Barristers, Clerks & Administration, with our barristers including KC’s, Members and Pupils.
View our teams in full detail, or browse by expertise to find a barrister.
Jane Brady has been briefed by law firm Priestley Legal Ltd to represent a defendant charged with murder. This comes just 24 hours following her instruction by the CPS on another case of murder. The rapid succession of instructions, one as prosecuting counsel, one for the defence, underscores the breadth of Jane’s practice and the intensity of work at the senior criminal bar.
Background on the current case:
The new case in which Brady is instructed concerns a defendant now formally charged with murder.
The BBC have reported the following:
A man has been charged with murder after a woman died following a disturbance at a property in Leeds.
Police were called to a home in Melville Gardens, in the Woodhouse area, at about 21:00 GMT on Thursday.
Colleen Westerman, 62, was found with serious injuries and given urgent medical treatment at the scene but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
John Bootland, 56, of Melville Gardens, has now been charged with her murder and appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.
They added: “This is being treated as an isolated incident and police are currently not looking for anyone else in connection with the death.”
About Jane Brady:
Jane, called in 2001, is described by the Legal 500 as “a very highly regarded criminal practitioner whose advocacy, case preparation and client care have always set her apart.” Her practice encompasses both prosecuting and defending serious crime, including murder, attempted murder, serious violence, arson, drug conspiracies, fraud and child cruelty.
Notably, she was junior counsel in a landmark prosecution for murder by deliberate starvation (the case of Anthony Sootheran) in 2021, which the Crown Prosecution Service described as “understood to be the first time in more than a century that a successful prosecution for murder by deliberate starvation has been made.”
In May 2025 she received a Chief Constable’s “Commendation for Excellence” for her role in that complex case.
Chambers is centrally located within walking distance of the train station, secure car parks and the Courts.
St Pauls Chambers
Park Row House
19-20 Park Row
Leeds
LS1 5JF
For out of hours assistance please call the senior clerk on 07854170429.
The switchboard will open from 08:30 until 17:30
Phone: +44 (0)1132 455 866
Email: [email protected]
CJSM: [email protected]
