Edward Brown

Edward Francis Trevenen Brown KC (born January 1958) is an English barrister who specialises in international criminal law and human rights.

He is one of the most senior prosecutors at the Old Bailey where he also served as a Recorder, as well as sitting as a part-time circuit judge at Southwark Crown Court.

Brown has written extensively on gang violence and joint enterprise murder in The Times.

Brown was called to the Bar in 1983.

He currently practises at QEB Hollis Whiteman in London, chambers of Mark Ellison KC, where he heads the specialist criminal department.

Brown commented: "It has always been the case that a person who intentionally assists another in a joint crime will be as guilty as the person who physically commits that crime. After the Chan Wing-Siu ruling in 1985, juries have since been directed that if a secondary party foresaw that the principal party might use a knife, for example, with intent to cause harm or murder, then they are guilty of murder as well."

Brown also commented that the judgment in R v Jogee and Ruddock v The Queen will have a significant effect on the prosecution of multi-handed crime, and in particular cases of multi-handed serious violence that sometimes results in death.

It will also result in many applications for leave to appeal against conviction out of time.

After beginning his career both prosecuting and defending, Brown specialised in prosecution work from 1986, including several cases of murder, terrorism and organised crime.

In 2000 Brown was appointed Junior Treasury Counsel at the Old Bailey, where he served as a recorder from 2001.

In 2007 he was appointed Senior Treasury Counsel, serving in that capacity until 2014.

He took silk (i.e. appointed Queen's Counsel) in 2008.

For most of his career he has practised at the Old Bailey.

In 2009 Brown acted for Labour Party politicians in Cash for Peerages police inquiry - no charges against MP's were brought.

Hutchinson-Foster is accused of "selling or transferring" a BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun to Duggan contrary to the Firearms Act 1968, between 28 July and 5 August 2011.

Hutchinson-Foster was found guilty of supplying a gun to Duggan.

Chief Supt Dean Haydon, from the Metropolitan Police's Trident Serious Crime Command, said: "The Kevin Hutchinson-Foster trial has primarily been about the supply of an illegal firearm and I welcome the verdict of the jury in this case today."

In 2011 Brown prosecuted two south London gangs known as Shanks and Guns, or SG, and the Black Mafia, also known as the Sydenham Boys.

Gang members were found guilty of murder of Nicholas "Nick" Pearton who was thought to be their friend.

In May 2011 Pearton, 17 year old schoolboy, was stabbed by gangsters being caught up in a clash between two gangs in Home Park, Sydenham.

Pearton was attacked when he went to the park to help gangsters who he thought were his friends, after receiving a call from them.

The jury at the Old Bailey saw CCTV footage from the Kentucky Fried Chicken shop of an injured Nicholas running in and collapsing.

Prosecuting, Brown commented that Pearton was "the only white-skinned male participant in the incident" when he was chased and eventually killed by a pack of "animals."

The court heard that hours earlier, Pearton's so-called friend, a member of Black Mafia gang known as the Sydenham Boys, had been involved in a row at school which led to a confrontation in the park between the two gangs.

Brown told the jury:

"Moments after Pearton arrived at the park, his so-called friends had evaporated and he was left to face the attackers on his own. In the eyes of the attackers however, he remained a member of the rival Black Mafia gang."

On 18 September 2012, Brown started prosecuting Kevin Hutchinson-Foster whose trial took place in Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Duggan was shot dead while police officers were trying to arrest him in Tottenham, north London last August.

The jury heard that the handgun allegedly supplied by Hutchinson-Foster was found near the spot where Duggan was shot.

Giving evidence, Hutchinson-Foster who was accused of passing the gun to Mark Duggan, claimed Duggan already had a gun.

In 2014 Brown became a member of Detention Review Board of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.

Brown has represented the prosecution, corporate entities and individuals in allegations of corporate crime, corruption, corporate manslaughter and tax investigations.

In 2015 Brown became a Bencher of Gray's Inn.

In 2016 Brown was appointed as leading Counsel to represent the CPS at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Brown was instructed by the CPS in many of the highest profile British criminal cases including prosecution of Kevin Hutchinson-Foster who passed the BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun to Mark Duggan shortly before the minicab in which Duggan was travelling was stopped by police in Ferry Lane in Tottenham Hale.

Brown was also instructed in the inquest into Duggan's death.

He prosecuted members of the GAS (Guns And Shanks) gang from Brixton who were charged with joint enterprise murder in a case of "vicious, shocking and sickening case of gang violence outside a school at a time when pupils and staff were gathering at the start of a school day", as well as Ben Hitchcock's murderers, whose actions were described as "the direct result of what was a pitched battle between rival gangs."

Co-defendant Royston Thomas was found not guilty after police detectives relaunched an investigation into the stabbing of 16-year-old Ben Hitchcock.

He prosecuted David Jeffs known as the "Mayfair socialite murder", child killer Ben Butler, hitman Jamie Marsh-Smith who was found guilty of murdering a gang boss, and MI5 official Katharine Gun in a widely publicised case involving MI5 and GCHQ.

In February 2016, Brown was interviewed by The Lawyer magazine to analyse R v Jogee that reversed previous case law on joint enterprise murder, after a recent Supreme Court ruling indicating that it was not right that a person could be convicted of murder and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment if they foresaw the murder could take place but did not deliver the fatal blow.