Nigel Power KC
Door Tenant
INTRODUCTION
Nigel Power KC is a specialist criminal barrister who also practises in family and regulatory work. He has been described in Chambers and Partners Guide to the Bar in the following way: "He's an excellent barrister; he's massively experienced and also thoroughly likeable, which is important to making client relationships work."
BACKGROUND AND EXPERTISE
Since taking silk in 2010, the majority of his work has been in murder cases, but he has also been instructed in cases involving fraud, confiscation, drugs and guns conspiracies and has considerable experience in cases of gross negligence manslaughter cases representing carers.
Nigel is currently involved in a drugs trial in Manchester Crown Court that is expected to last until March 2023. He is nevertheless able to accept advisory instructions in the meantime. His other current workload involves advising a number of clients, pre and post charge in cases involving Encrochat evidence, and he has successfully resisted a number of applications for production orders made by the police investigating alleged fraud at Liverpool City Council.
In 2022 he represented two young defendants separately in murder trials and he is also advising pre-charge in three large scale fraud/misconduct cases.
In 2021 he appeared for the first defendant, Kyle Sanders, in an eight-handed murder trial where the deceased was shot dead. Despite Mr Sanders being first named on the indictment and alleged to be the organiser of a robbery which led to the fatal shooting, Mr Sanders was acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter. He prosecuted Christopher Guest More for the drug-related torture and murder of Brian Waters in 2003 (convicted after a retrial) and represented a 17 year-old-defendant tried for s18 assault, murder and robbery in a cut-throat defence; he was acquitted of murder but convicted of s20 assault and manslaughter.
In 2020 he appeared in a number of murder trials and recently successfully resisted a prosecution appeal against a successful submission of no case in a murder trial in Preston (report here). In 2019 he secured the acquittal of Lee Blowes, who was alleged to have conspired to kill Blake Brown in a gangland execution (report here) and represented Lorraine Khan, who was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter. In 2018 he appeared in two high-profile murder trials in Liverpool and successfully prosecuted Darren McKie, an inspector in the Greater Manchester Police, for the murder of his wife, also a police officer (see here).
In family work in 2018 he appeared for the maternal grandmother who was completely exonerated in the two week "finding of fact" baby-shaking hearing in Medway CC v K. More recently he appeared in December 2020 for an Albanian mother in a finding of fact hearing involving allegations of modern slavery and forced prostitution.
Nigel is licensed to accept public access instructions directly from the public and regularly accepts privately paid as well as legally aided instructions.
He also practises from 7 Harrington Street Chambers in Liverpool. Fuller information about his work can be found at www.nigelpower.com.
NOTABLE CASES - HOMICIDE
Defendant was one of four men accused of kidnapping two teenagers and extracting information from them which led to the fatal shooting of Stephen Maguire in Southport. Report here. (Defending)
Defendant acquitted of murder and arson with intent to endanger life; submission of no case to answer succeeded and prosecution appeal resisted. Report here. (Defending)
Polish National accused of conspiring to to rob and murdering a former friend, travelling from Southampton to Wakefield with four others in order to do so. Report here. (Defending)
Polish National accused of murdering his Polish girlfriend in their home while her daughter was in the next door bedroom, required sensitive cross-examination of her under the section 28 procedure. (Defending)
65-year-old defendant charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of her husband; the prosecution accepted a plea to neglect after their expert geriatrician accepted that she could no longer say that she was objective; suspended sentence of imprisonment followed. Report here. (Defending)
Shooting of a 17 year old boy on a motorbike and associated other serious offending. Report here. (Prosecuting)
Gross negligence manslaughter by a carer who failed to check whether the deceased had returned from hospital; she then starved to death . Report here. (Defending)
Read more NOTABLE CASES - HOMICIDE
NOTABLE CASES - FRAUD
Represented the leading defendant in “Wales’ Biggest Ever Fraud” which involved more than 320,000 pages of material.
Ten-week “Boiler-Room Fraud” which was highly publicised because the first defendant was Lord Hugh Rodley, aka “The Lord of Fraud”. Shares worth more than £14m were sold in companies that did not trade in any meaningful sense. Nigel used defence expert handwriting evidence and cross-examination of the prosecution’s expert chartered accountant during the trial to ensure that although Mr Dennett was the director of the two principal companies operating the frauds and had control of the bank accounts, he was the only one of the five on trial to be acquitted of conspiracy to defraud and fraudulent trading; this was despite the fact that he had given undertakings not to act as a Director during the concurrent investigation by Companies House.
OTHER ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS
Nigel is a keen footballer, cricketer and cyclist and a season ticket holder at Liverpool FC.
Professional Commentary and Attribution
“Knowledgeable across the full spectrum of serious crime, he exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations. He regularly appears at trial and in appellate proceedings. Strengths: "well prepared and tenacious …robust, thorough and conscientious." (Chambers 2020)
“A superb advocate with a real attention to detail.” (Legal 500 2020)
"Knowledgeable across the full spectrum of serious crime, Nigel Power QC exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations. He also acts in serious sexual offence cases. Strengths: "an excellent and genuinely fearless advocate. He has a strong belief in his own judgement, allied with a remarkable capacity for hard work." "He is extremely pugnacious in his approach to defending prosecutions of all types, and is just as skilful in general crime as he is in complex fraud investigations. his client service and document preparation are at the highest level." (Chambers 2019)
"A very hardworking silk.” (Legal 500 2018)
“Nigel is an excellent trial QC and, due to his speedy analysis of the evidence, he runs the trial and effectively and controls the impact of the prosecution evidence well. He is extremely conscientious, prompt with his advice and a tireless force when it comes to preparation." (Chambers 2018)
"A confident and unflappable advocate." (Legal 500 2017)
"Knowledgeable across the full spectrum of criminal law, Nigel Power QC exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations." (chambers 2017)
"Impressive technical ability." (Legal 500 2016)
"He's an excellent barrister; he's massively experienced and also thoroughly likeable, which is important to making client relationships work." (Chambers 2016)
“Always brings a new dimension to any conversation about strategy in a complex case." (Legal 500 2015)
Has an extensive practice covering all areas of serious crime. He is highly regarded for his expertise on complex and high-profile cases such as gangland murders.” (Chambers 2014)
"Experienced in cases involving complex DNA evidence." (Legal 500 2014)
"Admired for his busy practice that covers all areas of serious crime. he is described as hard-working. His distinguished track record includes acting in gangland shootings, serious fraud and drug trafficking offences." (Chambers 2013)
"Nigel Power QC excels in cases involving complex technical, medical or scientific evidence.” (legal 500 2013)
