Dexter Dias

Practice

Dexter Dias, Human Rights Lawyer of the Year finalist, has been instructed in some of the biggest criminal trials involving murder, terrorism and heavy fraud of recent years - additionally, he has played a pivotal role in public inquiries (such as the Mubarek Inquiry) and inquests which are watersheds in the developing law of the land. His distinctive rights-based style of advocacy, marked by a passionate commitment to fundamental freedoms, resulted in his being short-listed in Liberty's and JUSTICE's prestigious Human Rights Awards 2006 by a panel of judges including Baroness Hale of Richmond from the House of Lords and Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty. He was nominated for 'his outstanding commitment to the rule of law and justice for all; for his deep devotion to ensure that the voices of the weakest in society are heard.' Dexter is recommended by the Chambers & Partners professional directory as a Leader of the Bar in two categories: Crime and Civil Liberties. He is one of the few practising barristers to be listed as a Leader of the Bar in both specialisms and recommended as being "nothing if not determined to seek out the best result for his client." The Legal 500 directory also recommends him in two categories: Human Rights and Crime, where he comes 'strongly recommended' as a Leading Junior.

He has been at the forefront in the current wave of terrorist trials which have mapped new territory in the balance between national security and human rights. He has recently conducted the 'Terrorist Training Camps' case (linked to 21.7 London bombings) - the first prosecution under the Terrorism Act 2006 (Operation Over Amp), where he appeared for the first defendant. He was leading counsel in the 'Soldier Beheading Plot' case (Operation Gamble), one of the first prosecutions under the 'duty to inform' provisions of the new Terrorism Act. He provided emergency advice in the matter of O, a case involving the detention conditions for those convicted of terrorist offences. He is currently instructed in R v I, the case concerning the arrests under the Terrorism Act in Bristol.

Recent Cases

Dexter regularly conducts leading work. He was recently leading counsel in the landmark inquest into the death of Gareth Myatt, aged 15. At the time of his death, Gareth was the youngest child to die in custody and the only child to die following restraint. This was one of the longest death in custody inquests in legal history, and the jury returned an unprecedented verdict, devastatingly implicating Home Office and Youth Justice Board failures as causative of this child's death. The inquest judge has recently written to the Secretary of State for Justice stating it would be 'wholly unforgivable' not to learn from the failures exposed during the inquest.

Dexter was instructed a leading counsel on a 20 million fraud in 2008 (Operation Sunbird). He was also counsel in the investigation into the death of Azrar Ayub, a young Asian man who died following restraint and emergency tranquillisation in a secure psychiatric unit. The jury returned a highly critical narrative verdict, and accepted Dexter's submission that facts surrounding the death of this young man had been concealed from them. He also worked (pro bono) on behalf of the bereaved father and the Victoria Climbie Foundation in the Serious Case Review into the murder of two children by their clinically disturbed mother. The Review accepted that health professionals had failed to assess the risk this deeply disturbed mother presented to her children.

In summer 2007, as leading counsel he secured an acquittal in Operation Mdina, a conspiracy to commit armed robbery (an Operation Trident case). He presented argument to the Court of Appeal on a full appeal against conviction in a triple murder. In 2006, he was leading counsel on a serious conspiracy to kidnap, falsely imprison and blackmail (Operation Fronton).

He has in the recent past been instructed in cases involving multiple murder, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in a murder trial, arms dealing, and international human trafficking. In 2009 he will conduct a notorious gang-related execution case.

Additional information

• In 2008, appointed to the Standards Committee of the Bar Standards Board.
• Tasked to review the BSB's advice to barristers practicing in criminal law.
• Consulted by the Bar Council committee designing the forthcoming Equality training for the Bar following Lord Neuberger's report on Entry to the Bar.
  
  

Notable cases

From 2004 Dexter was counsel for the bereaved family in the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry before the Hon. Mr Justice Keith, the much-publicised public inquiry into the Prison Service following the racist murder of a young offender at Feltham Young Offenders Institution: see Lord Lester & David Pannick QC, Human Rights Law & Practice (2nd ed.), p121-2. During the entirety of Phase 2, Dexter represented Zahid's family on his own, without a QC. Having now reported, the Inquiry has been hailed as being comparable in importance to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, and proposes significant reforms to the prison system to make it safer, more racially and religiously tolerant, and humane.

Dexter's scathing indictment of the failures in the prison service was widely reported in the national press. The Inquiry has led to the hugely successful play, Gladator Games, which The Times describes as "a work of real political importance; painful to witness, but entirely essential". The first main action of the play is Dexter's speech. He was invited to deliver the opening speech at the inaugural Zahid Mubarek Memorial Lecture at the Theatre Royal, where he shared a platform with former HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord Ramsbotham. He has also been deeply involved in setting up a prison reform trust foundation with Zahid's family and the independent Monitoring Group. In consultation with the Safer Custody and Diversity Groups in the Home Office he is helping plan the rolling out of independent helplines on every landing across the prison estate. A pilot will launch in four London prisons in 2007. Dexter is now actively working on a committee set up to scrutinise and effect the implementation of the 88 recommendations of the Mubarek Inquiry. He has also been invited by one of Mr Justice Keith's specialist advisers, Bobby Cummines FRSA, to be a Patron of the Unlock charity for Reformed Offenders.

Click here to visit the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry Website
Click here to read Mr Justice Keith's Final Inquiry Report.
Click here to read Dexter's address to the national prison reform conference

At the start of 2007, Dexter represented the mother of Gareth Myatt, a child who died following restraint in the privately-run Rainsbrook detention centre. He ensured that the Article 2 rights of Gareth's mother and family were vindicated by fighting governmental agencies in court for weeks to ensure that the alarming truth about systematic neglect of child safety and the pervasive use of excessive force was exposed. The jury returned an unparalleled narrative verdict deprecating the enduring failures of the Home Office and Youth Justice Board to protect the lives and safety of children. The judge who presided over the inquest wrote to the Home Secretary that it would be 'wholly unforgivable and a double tragedy' if there was any delay in learning from and acting upon the lessons of Gareth's death. His Honour Judge Pollard specified 34 Actions he believed should be taken to prevent other children dying in custody. The judge also stressed to the Home Secretary a theme pressed by Dexter throughout the inquest: the absolute need to 'listen to the voice of the child'. Dexter is now actively working with Deb Coles, Co-Director of the charity INQUEST, to fight for an official inquiry which will bring to the wider public's attention the distressing and often deplorable treatment of children in the criminal justice system.


Click here to read HHJ Pollard's Report to the Secretary of State for Justice
Click here to read the jury's Narrative Verdict

In summer 2006 he appeared in a gang-related triple murder execution case at the Old Bailey, which was regarded by senior officers in Operation Trident as one of the most brutal ever investigated.

During the first half of 2006, he appeared in a five-month murder trial at Bristol Crown Court, which stemmed from the biggest investigation by Avon & Somerset Police (Operation Aragon - linked with the Met's Operation Yigo). His client was acquitted of all counts of murder and conspiracy to murder.

In February 2006, Dexter represented the family of a young black woman, Edita Pomell, who was found dead in HMP Brockhill in suspicious circumstances, amid allegations of her having being racially abused and sexually harassed, and having suffered physical violence from prison staff. Despite the Prison Service's claims that Edita's death was a suicide, the jury returned the Open Verdict that Edita's family had fought many years for. Further, Dexter persuaded the Coroner to allow the jury to provide a narrative on several points of pressing public interest concerning the treatment of young women in this prison. The jury provided a scathing assessment of the level of care provided by the Prison Service.

Click here to see a summary of the jury’s narrative verdict.

Dexter changed the law of the land with the defining Alton Manning inquest, securing the first verdict of unlawful killing against a private British prison, proving that a young black inmate was killed by prison officers. He represented the deceased inmate's family in this protracted inquest on a pro bono basis - something that was said by Lord Bingham (then Lord Chief Justice) to do great credit to the profession. He also helped prove that the subsequent decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions not to prosecute the officers was unlawful, irrational and legally 'perverse'. The case underlined in UK law the rights of the family of victims to have rigorous scrutiny of deaths in State custody, applying the European Convention on Human Rights:see Professor HWR Wade's Administrative Law (9th ed), p524. The exposure of the police failings in the following investigation has led to major beneficial changes, culminating in the ACPO protocol of February 2006 for the investigation of deaths in State custody.

In 2004, Dexter appeared in the world's biggest diamond robbery case, the multi-million pound 'heist' from Graff's Jewellers, New Bond Street. He also appeared in a $100 million international fraud which involved the US Treasury Department.

In 2003, he secured the acquittal of 'Kaish', a singer in the So Solid Crew. In doing so, he helped cast doubt upon one of the world's foremost forensic lip-reading experts. She is no longer used by the Crown. This led to the BBC programme on the case. He also effected the dropping of the murder case against his client at the Central Criminal Court when his detailed analysis of CCTV from the Unused Material proved that his client must have been innocent.

In 2002 he was leading counsel on a four-month trial concerning a massive importation of heroin from the continent. He was instructed in an attempted murder of a police officer and won an alleged gangland execution case at the Old Bailey.

In 2001, he conducted an inquest into the worrying death of a young black man after a high-speed police pursuit, a case which exposed serious flaws in the Met's monitoring of and policy towards high-speed vehicular pursuit. He was also instructed in an alleged 'Taliban-inspired' murder. It was a four-handed cut-throat defence - only his client was acquitted.

In 2000, he conducted a trial at the Central Criminal Court which uncovered corruption and malpractice in the Immigration Service at Gatwick Airport.

In 1999, Dexter was counsel in the landmark GM crops case, the winning of which led a moratorium and governmental rethink on commercial testing.

In 1996/7 he was counsel in one of the biggest investigations by the Met's anti-Yardie taskforce. He secured acquittals on all counts of murder.

In 1994 Dexter acted in the Security Guard murder, which involved the biggest reward ever offered by the Greater Manchester Police. His client was acquitted of murder.

In 1993 he won acquittals in one of the most notorious of murder cases in the North in recent times - the Penny Black murder in Manchester.

In 1991 and 1992 Dexter helped expose corruption at Stoke Newington Police Station, winning cases that, along with others, led to the disbandment of a drugs squad and corrupt officers being sacked and imprisoned.

In 1990 and 1991 he participated in all the major Poll-tax demonstration cases, securing the acquittal of Neil Fernandez, the man who allegedly 'torched the Porsche' - according to the front page of most national tabloids. The police officer in the case was referred to the DPP. Dexter was also counsel in the largest riot trial, which ran five months. He secured an acquittal.

Dexter started his legal career defending Anti-Apartheid protestors, CND, poll-tax demonstrators, and hippies fighting for the right to dance naked around Stonehenge. After winning the last-mentioned case, he was invited to join his lay clients at the next solstice. He graciously declined.

Publications and Media

As well as having been published extensively on legal and policy topics in the national and legal press, Dexter Dias is also an internationally published novelist with bestsellers in the UK and abroad. His first novel, the thriller, FALSE WITNESS, was a top 20 bestseller in the UK. He has followed it up with four further globally published novels. He has been published by Time Warner in the US. His books have been translated into Japanese, Dutch, German and Finnish. ABOVE THE LAW was a number two bestseller in South Africa. His fifth novel, POWER OF ATTORNEY, was a WH Smith book of the month. Several of his books have been optioned for film and television.

What others say

Dexter Dias has worked on several Article 2 challenges following deaths in custody. He represented the family of Zahid Mubarek at the inquest into his death and is "nothing if not determined to seek out the best result for his client." Chambers & Partners 2008

Dexter Dias has worked on several high profile Article 2 challenges following deaths in custody. He represented the family of Zahid Mubarek at the public inquiry into the death and is "nothing if not determined to seek out the best result for his client" Chambers & Partners 2008, and comes "strongly recommended" Legal 500.

Dexter Dias's current professional rankings and recommendations:

Chambers & Partners 2009: Leader of the Bar (Crime)
Chambers & Partners 2009: Leader of the Bar (Civil Liberties)
Legal 500 (2008/9): Leading Junior (Human Rights)
Legal 500 (2008/9): Leading Junior (Crime)

Year of Call

Education

Languages

Send Email

Telephone

Practice Areas

Publications / Articles