Criminal Appeals

Our criminal appeals team deal with a huge variety of cases. We firmly believe that every person should be treated as equal before the law and that miscarriages of justice occur – particularly given the neglect which has been shown to our criminal justice system and the decimation of legal aid budgets.

Members of our team have interests in various specialised areas of criminal appeals, including appeals against joint enterprise convictions following the 2016 Supreme Court case of R v Jogee, appeals against indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP), appeals involving youths and vulnerable persons including women in the criminal justice system and individuals suffering from mental health conditions whose difficulties were not fully appreciated at theory trial.

Either party can Appeal if they are not happy with the original decision. Either Party will require Permission to Appeal.

Permission is granted by the Judge who originally heard the case and whose decision you wish to Appeal or (if not sought from him, or sought and refused) you apply to the Court to which you are Appealing, for that Permission. Generally, in order to obtain that permission, the Judge will evaluate whether you have a real prospect of success in your Appeal.

We specialise in applications to the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission. We work to overturn unsafe convictions and sentences which are manifestly excessive. We take on a broad range of cases, often where the defendant has been represented by a different legal team within the original proceedings.

Sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs) were created by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and started to be used in April 2005. They were designed to protect the public from serious offenders whose crimes did not merit a life sentence.

We understand that the system of criminal appeals is a complex one and client care is at the heart of everything we do – ensuring that each client understands the appeals process and the reasons behind each step we take is of utmost importance to us.

Our ethos is to do all we can to fight for our clients, litigating fearlessly and without favour to anyone, on their behalf. We are passionate about fighting for justice and will explore all realistic avenues of appeal on behalf of our clients where we feel that they may have been let down by the criminal justice system.

If you have a concern about a conviction which you or a loved one have received, or if you believe that a sentence is manifestly excessive, please do not hesitate to contact the GT Stewart Appeals Team.