Acquittal in Facebook 'grass' attempted murder

Nichola Higgins, junior counsel for the first defendant, secured the acquittal of MB, accused of attempting to murder a man whose details had been posted on Facebook falsely identifying him as a police informant. Hours after the doctored images were posted, the victim was shot four times at close range by a man using a semi-automatic pistol with a silencer attached to it.

The prosecution's case relied on complex cell site evidence, expert evidence and numerous eye witness accounts. However, essential to the prosecution case was a 999 call made immediately after the shooting in which several voices could be heard in the background discussing the incident and naming MB and his brother. After lengthy and detailed legal argument, His Honour Judge Michael Baker QC was persuaded that the hearsay evidence was unreliable and unconvincing and therefore fell foul of section 125 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. As a consequence the case was withdrawn from the jury.

News Reports

19 October 2011

Top of page

Our People

Areas of Law

Murder (19)

Page options

E-mail the editor

Please note that we are not responsible for the content of other websites.