GTS today secured the acquittal of five clients following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court lasting six weeks.

Each client faced charges of affray and having an offensive weapon. It was alleged clients were involved in an altercation with another defendant which included the use of various weapons before attending an address and making further threats and attempting to assault a 16-year-old female and her mother.

The clients denied the allegations, stating they were acting in self defence at all times. During the cross-examination of a key prosecution witness, GTS felt the need to screenshot and exhibit several screenshots of her social media pages. The following day both she, her relatives and a co-defendant all amended their social media profiles to limit access. However, the screenshots had already been obtained and exhibited by GTS, and played a significant role during the remainder of the trial by discrediting both that witness – who was re-called to the give evidence – and the witnesses that followed.

Following the trial, each of the five clients was unanimously acquitted of all charges.

The clients were all represented by Kevin Williams at our Bromley Office, and by the following counsel at trial:

• Tom Mayall, Farringdon Chambers.
• Elena Papamichael, Garden Court Chambers.
• Dan Santos-Costa, 15 New Bridge Street Chambers.
• Ravinder Saimbhi, 33 Bedford Row Chambers.
• Archie Manby, 2KBW Chambers.