• ABOUT US
• BARRISTERS / MEMBERS
• DIRECT ACCESS
• CONTACT

Francis Evans QC

Year of Call

1977 (QC 1994)

Qualifications

• Assistant Recorder (1989)
• Recorder (1994)
• Attorney, Kingdom of Tonga (1995)

Areas of Practice

Crime - fraud, rape, espionage, murder, wounding, assaults, paedophile and drugs, terrorism, theft, courts martial and prison law.

Civil - Laws of Contract, Probate.

General Profile

Francis has defended and prosecuted in cases across the entire spectrum of crime encompassing fraud, rape, espionage (Cyprus spy trial 1985), murder, wounding, assaults, paedophile and drugs cases, terrorism (Al Mograbi, Heathrow surface to air missile plot) and prison law, including through the Court of Appeal and House of Lords (e.g. R -v- More [1987] 1WLR 1578). As a junior as well as defending across the board, he was briefed for the prosecution authorities in Central London, Surrey, Thames Valley, Essex, Sussex, Customs & Excise, Ministry of Agriculture, CPS Headquarters Fraud Investigation Group and for Post Office frauds. He took silk in 1994 and continued prosecuting for the Fraud Investigation Group, including fraud and corruption involving councillors and solicitors (e.g. R-v- Amalu-Johnson (Brent Councillor) [1994], R -v- Mensah-Lartey and Levey [1996] 1 Cr.App.R 143). He became increasingly briefed for the defence in criminal cases, and was also progressively engaged in advisory work on contracts for the record industry. In 1995 he was admitted as an Attorney of the Kingdom of Tonga where he has been instructed in relation to fraud and contracts. His criminal defence work in silk has included cases of child molestation (e.g. 12 years' imprisonment for multiple sexual assaults), a Philippine woman attempting the largest ever fraud (forged certificates of control for gold bullion [Avilla]), and a multi-million pound lottery winner's international car dealing fraud (R –v- Lee Taylor Ryan). His work on music industry contracts has developed into more general commercial contract work including cases involving sale of commodities, money lending, security bonds, mortgages, and other charges. Experience in prosecuting large multi-handed frauds which take years and large teams of personnel to prepare for trial means he has a facility with marshalling human resources, voluminous documentation, copious detail and general large case management.

Other Professional Experience

• Lecturer in Law, City of London Polytechnic
• Since 2006 - Chairman Board of Trustees Southside Young Leaders’ Academy (charity for under-achieving bright young black men).