Piers Mostyn

Overview

Piers’ practice covers the full range of offences, with particular focus on serious violence, gangs, firearms, murder, drugs, sexual offences, public order & protest law. He has built a reputation for meticulous preparation, attention to detail, commitment to clients, and powerful advocacy.

Notable Cases

Past notable cases can be viewed below. Click here to see a list of recent notable cases.

Homicide and Related Offences

R v Janik
Allegation of assisting murder, possession of a firearm with intent to cause serious harm and other offences tried at the Old Bailey alongside seven co-defendants, a group of whom drove across North London and shot the victim in the face with a shotgun.

R v Bell-McKay
An allegation of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in the context of a murder trial at the Old Bailey. The defendant was alleged to have assisted in the removal of the corpse; its transportation across London to be dumped in a council estate refuse container; the cleaning out of the flat; and the disposal of property.

R v Johnson
Attempted murder and wounding with intent trial at the Old Bailey, involving participation in a pre-planned gang-based knife attack.

R v Simmons
Led in Old Bailey murder trial. Defendant broke into his ex-wife’s house in the early hours and set fire to it, killing her and causing himself serious burns. An elderly female occupant narrowly escaped death by escaping from a first floor window.

R v Adebayo
Attempted murder and wounding with intent trial arising out of a drug dealing dispute on the South Coast.

R v O and another
Two 15-year-olds accused of attempted murder on the platform of a railway station in North London. The victim was one of a gang chasing them who was stabbed in the stomach in the encounter.

R v Salau and others
Attempted murder case in which the victim was shot in the back in an underground station as he fled a gang.

R v Singh
Allegation of attempted murder of a police officer tried at the Old Bailey. The defendant was wanted for escape from prison having failed to return on a weekend licence. He was said to have deliberately driven at an officer and hit him to avoid being apprehended.

R v Rhodes-Butler and others
Leading counsel in five-handed murder trial at the Old Bailey, concerning a “shoot out” in which dozens of bullets were fired.

R v Campbell and others
Leading counsel for alleged gunman in three-month murder trial at the Old Bailey. Cut-throat defence and numerous legal arguments.

R v Mahorn and others
Leading counsel for up-and-coming rap star accused of shooting a local rival in a machine gun attack in Old Bailey trial.

R v Blackwood
Leading counsel in murder with a firearm trial at the Old Bailey. Defendant acquitted on the basis of a substantial legal argument concerning Crown’s reliance on hearsay.

R v Ross
Leading counsel in Old Bailey murder trial and re-trial involving the kicking to death of a vulnerable young man on a railway platform. Complex issues regarding causation involved detailed cross-examination of pathologist due to pre-existing ill-health of victim. Subject to a retrial.

Serious Violence and Firearms Offences

R v Jobson
An aggravated burglary allegation involving 4 men dressed in balaclavas and wielding zombie knives entering the Essex home of world champion professional cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish and threatening to stab him. His wife and children were present. Two watches valued together at £700,000 were stolen.

R v Joseph
A successful businessman was the victim of multiple frauds worth tens of thousands of pounds. He was then tricked into attending a meeting and bundled into a Range Rover in which 3 men in balaclavas wielding zombie knives and a gun threatened to kill him and his family if he didn’t pay over £250,000 in 24 hours.

R v Ashaoui
15-month conspiracy to commit robberies with firearms on cash-in-transit trucks. 7 robberies and 3 aborted or attempted robberies yielded £383,000. Evidence included intensive daily surveillance and covert recordings from a bug planted in a car over many months. There were two retrials.

R v Amin
An alleged conspiracy to rob cash-in-transit vans with weapons linked to the conspiracy involving Ashaoui above. On one occasion a police ambush led to one of the defendants being shot in the back as he ran away. Subject to a re-trial.

R v Macdonna
The defendant was alleged to have arranged for a self-loading pistol, ammunition and 330g of cannabis to be imported from Florida. Customs intercepted the parcel and inserted a bug, producing an audio recording which was admitted in evidence.

R v Jones
Allegation of aggravated burglary in which the defence was Modern Day Slavery.

R v Goddard
Allegation of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglaries across North London by a gang on mopeds breaking into mobile phone shops in the early hours and stealing the contents.

R v Hutchinson
Alleged attempted possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent and supplying Class A drugs on the dark web. The defendant was caught in a police sting.  

R v Maclaren
Allegation of aggravated burglary in which cocaine addict suffering from psychotic delusions climbed into first floor window of residential house at 2 am and stabbed resident who confronted him.

R v Osei
Kidnap and wounding with intent allegation in which two crack addicts were said to have attacked complainant in street and bundled him into a car. He was found seriously injured, with fractures and memory loss, 36 hours later.

R v Francis
Allegation of GBH with intent against young man stopped for drug search, who is alleged to have headbutted a police officer, pushed him to the ground, and then bitten a portion of his ear off.

R v Qureshi
Violent disorder that was originally charged as murder. Allegation of confrontation between groups of young men on residential street in West London in which 3 or 4 very large knives were brought to the scene resulting in one fatality and the defendant suffering a serious stabbing injury.

R v N-D
Two defendants alleged to have tricked their way into the flat of Knightsbridge-based sex workers, tied them up and robbed them at gunpoint. The defence case was that this was an agreed arrangement, a role-playing sexual encounter in which the complainants were to be tied up. They changed their minds on finding out that one of the complainants was transgender but were refused their money back. Aggravated burglary.

R v Ejiofor
Allegation of conspiracy to transfer a firearm in a gang-linked case involving transportation across London.

R v Mayers and others
Second on indictment in conspiracy to rob and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear. The defendant was alleged to be one of a gang of 20 to 30 masked men with firearms, bats and iron bars that attacked a Kent caravan site. The resident families were said to have a background of involvement in firearms and Class A drug supply.

R v Ullah and others
Conspiracy to blackmail allegation. A bar/restaurant in North London was systematically smashed up by a large group of masked men with iron bars and bats. The owner and his family were then repeatedly threatened with further consequences if they didn’t pay money. This defendant was said to be the “inside man”, using his friendship with the family to assist the conspiracy.

R v Adeleye and another
Representing a prize-winning young boxer accused, with his brother, of wounding with intent against a student following a night out. The victim’s head injuries were so severe that he required significant hospitalization and suffered long term neurological damage.

R v Abdul
Allegation of armed robbery of a cash-in-transit van.

R v Nelson and others
Accusation of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and assisting an offender, arising from the shooting of a Police Community Support Officer following serious inter-gang violence and the hiding of a machine gun in the local estate.

R v Minott and others
Leading counsel for first defendant in a five-handed conspiracy to supply firearms trial. The case concerned an arms factory, the importation of machine guns and pistols and a shooting feud within a north London gang.

R v Hussain
Allegation involving an apparently motiveless stabbing with a three-foot knife-like samurai sword in the street, causing serious intestinal injuries and severing the tendons to the fingers.

R v Gilmour
Wounding with intent allegation in prison, involving slashing of throat with improvised weapon involving razor blades.

R v Laurencin and others
Leading counsel for first defendant concerning a gang-linked aggravated burglary involving three loaded firearms. Complex legal arguments lasting several weeks about hearsay, bad character evidence and disclosure.

R v Rhodes-Butler
Possession of a firearm with intent. This case involved extensive cross-examination of experts and legal submissions concerning DNA evidence.

R v Anthony
Wounding with intent by glassing by student during celebrations after his final exam.

R v Fry and others
Aggravated burglary involving a group of males in balaclavas with baseball bats and other weapons engaging in a revenge attack on a family.

R v Rhodes-Butler
Aggravated burglary with a firearm.

R v Smith
Accusation of wounding with intent of a police officer in which the defence case was that the police witnesses were racist liars and the defendant was acting in self-defence.

Controlled Drugs

R v Vazeer
Leading counsel in what the National Crime Agency described as “The UK’s largest investigation into drug smuggling”, involving the importation of tons of heroin, cocaine and cannabis “worth up to £7 billion” into the UK. Following numerous adjournments over 4.5 years, this was a 10-month, cut-throat trial involving extensive phone wiretaps recorded by the Dutch police.

R v Qazi
The defendant was first on the indictment of an alleged conspiracy to supply class A drugs across the West Midlands over a 10-month period. He was said to have a senior role as “book-keeper”, managing debts by lower-level dealers who ran the street suppliers and acting as a go-between for the two leading operators.

R v Ferguson
Alleged possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply. Trial and re-trial.

R v Obazi
Woman accused of importing 1 kg of cocaine by swallowing a large number of small packages and then refusing to defecate for a week after being detained at customs entering the UK. Defence of duress.

R v Brown
Possession of a loaded firearm with intent and a substantial quantity of Class A drugs in a house said to be a drugs factory.

R v Pratt
Possession of a significant quantity of Class A drugs with intent to supply. Lead witness for the Crown was a former suspect who gave evidence under the terms of a SOCPA contract.

R v Clifford
Quartermaster of the Wessex Hell’s Angels in an allegation of possessing a substantial quantity of Class A drugs with intent to supply.

R v Dacosta and another
Alleged possession of 1kg of cocaine with intent to supply and £50,000 of laundered cash.

Protest

R v Lipson
An allegation of conspiracy to commit criminal damage, valued in multiple thousands of pounds, to the HM Treasury building in Whitehall. Climate protestors from Extinction Rebellion were protesting against government financing of the fossil fuel industry. They bought a second-hand fire engine and sprayed water dyed red to look like blood over the building, attracting global media coverage.

R v Bagshaw
An allegation of conspiracy to cause £1.5 million of damage against Palestine Action activists who broke into a North Wales factory believed to produce components for Israeli fighter planes.

R v Salazar
An allegation of violent disorder following a large demonstration in central London, in which hundreds of protestors were said to have battled with police in Hyde Park, causing injuries to officers.

R v Awad
An allegation of violent disorder against anti-fascists involved in a counter-demonstration against far-right mobilisation in Dover. A prolonged and violent stand-off lasting several hours resulted in serious injuries and multiple arrests. Subject to a retrial.

Sexual Offences

R v Uddin
Trial on 22 counts alleging rape, sexual activity with a child and witness intimidation, involving grooming into an abusive relationship. After the victim went to the police, the defendant allegedly tricked her into a meeting, then raped her once more and pressurised her to drop the case.

R v Gillings
Represented defendant in three separate cases over four years on allegations that he raped vulnerable women, all involved substantial arguments concerning third party disclosure procedures and bad character (based on history of sexual offending and unproven allegations).

R v Oudahar
Allegation of multiple rapes and beatings over the course of several years against the defendant’s partner with whom he was living. There were mental health issues involved and prior to being instructed in this trial, there had been five previous legal teams (all of them sacked) and the case had been listed for trial four times.

R v S
A teacher who ran a school from his home, assisting students outside school hours, was accused of indecent assault against a female child pupil. Third party disclosure issues concerning her social service, counselling and school records were central to the case.

R v Johnson and another
Client was a serving soldier in the Household Cavalry, who’s work included guarding Buckingham Palace. He and a colleague were accused of rape and sexual assault against a highly intoxicated female student they had met at a nightclub local to their barracks.

R v B
Representing a young man with significant learning difficulties (requiring the assistance of an intermediary at trial) who was accused of sexual assault on a child.

R v Marina
Defendant accused of raping and wounding with intent against 60-year-old stranger after following her from the pub they were both drinking in.

R v Mytton
Historic child sex abuse allegation against a 69-year-old Church of England organist and choirmaster.

R v Head
Private instruction regarding child sexual abuse by a grandfather against his nine-year-old grandchild.

R v Ashford
Historic multiple rape and other sexual offences committed against a child over the course of a year by a male in early adolescence. An intermediary was granted for the defendant due to ADHD-related issues.

R v Musa and another
Multi-defendant rape of a highly intoxicated young woman after they met at a nightclub.

R v Cheer
Multiple rape of a vulnerable, 13-year-old, girl, who had run away from home. Prosecution case collapsed following extensive legal arguments concerning the credibility and reliability of the complainant.

Overview

Past notable cases can be viewed below. Click here to see a list of recent notable cases.

Dishonesty, Money Laundering and Fraud

R v Kurt
Allegation of large-scale VAT fraud involving cigarette importations.

R v Towfik
Money laundering allegation worth £150,000.

R v Rahman and others
Large-scale benefit fraud conspiracy worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. The defendant and others were said to have set up fake companies in order to facilitate dozens of claimants falsely claiming entitlement to credits. Defence centred on detailed cross-examination of prosecution forensic accountant.

R v Yildiz and others
Fraud conspiracy involving an allegation of staging multiple “crash for cash” incidents on motorways, involving innocent bystander drivers.

R v Ashraf
Defendant was a single mother employed as financial director at Gatwick Airport car parks who was accused of syphoning off hundreds of thousands of pounds over several years. The case against her involved detailed tracing of long term financial flows over multiple accounts by a forensic accountant.

R v Maughan and others
Allegation of conspiracy to steal power tools across a wide area of Hampshire and Surrey by a team from East London employing sophisticated counter-surveillance techniques.

R v Cooper
Defendant was alleged to have stolen a painting by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood from the West End gallery where it was on sale.

R v Haider and others
Large-scale immigration fraud allegation involving the creation of fake jobs in order to satisfy visa requirements.

R v Ogunkeye
Multiple theft of postal packets by Royal Mail employee.

R v A
11-count indictment alleging that a young woman with mental health problems made false rape allegations against her boyfriend and uncle and also systematically defrauded her boyfriend, best friend and others of approximately £100,000 by falsely claiming to have medical and legal needs.

R v Caffell and others
Leading counsel in allegation of conspiracy centring on multiple fraudulent mortgage applications made by a property developer with assistance from a solicitor and others.

R v Rhoden and others
Leading counsel representing a DVLA employee in a conspiracy to defraud trial concerning processing forged and fraudulent licence applications for vehicles imported on forged documentation and stolen vehicles.

R v Begum
Multiple allegations of fraud by a young woman posing as a police officer and claiming to obtain legal assistance for people.