James Lofthouse secures conviction of “no questions asked” scrap metal merchant

James Lofthouse, recently instructed as prosecution trial counsel in the case of R v JC, secured convictions on all 5 counts of money laundering and attempted handling at Croydon CC. JC had been acquitted of similar charges following a collapsed prosecution in Blackfriars CC in 2010 and James’s instruction followed an aborted trial in January 2014. After James re-drafted the indictment and significantly revised the way the prosecution put the case, the Defendant, a prominent south London scrap metal merchant, was convicted of money laundering in relation to possessing and disguising stolen cemetery memorial plaques in 2012 and attempted handling of copper cabling following an undercover police operation in 2013.