R -v- Sheikh [2025] EWCA Crim 38 – Conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal

Sam Green KC led Conor Quinn in successfully appealing the conviction of a woman convicted of causing or allowing serious harm to a vulnerable adult. The Court of Appeal agreed that the trial judge should have accepted their submission of no case to answer and had erroneously interpreted section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 too widely in rejecting it. The Court of Appeal also determined that the judge’s summing up to the jury was tainted by the same error. The conviction was quashed and no retrial ordered.

Mr Green, who argued this point on behalf of all defendants, focussed initially on section 5(1)(d)(iii) and the need for the act to occur in “circumstances of the kind” that the defendants foresaw or ought to have foreseen. He argued that the application of a caustic substance to Ambreen’s lower back amounted to a wholly different set of circumstances to those relevant to the administration of anti-diabetic medication. When pressed as to the meaning of “circumstances” in this context, he referred to the preparations for the unlawful acts: the obtaining or mixing of the poison compared with the application of a toxic burning substance to Ambreen’s back.

The full judgement can be found here

Sam Green KC is joint Head of Chambers. He is briefed in the most serious crime, fraud, and terrorism cases.