Marc Brown

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“Red Lion Chambers offers a great depth of talented, approachable counsel.”
Legal 500, 2022

Personal profile

Marc is an experienced Crime practitioner who prosecutes and defends as both a leading and led junior across Murder & Manslaughter, Serious Violence, Sexual Offences, and Business Crime & Fraud matters.

He has a particular expertise in cases that involve the use and misuse of technology. He undertakes cases involving hacking, the creation of malevolent software; and general computer enabled crime such as manufacture and distribution of indecent material.

He also undertakes some quasi-criminal Public & Administrative Law work, and regularly appears on behalf of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in Judicial Review proceedings.

Marc was appointed to grade 4 on the CPS General Crime Panel in December 2019. He was appointed to the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences panel in 2015.

Crime

Marc acts and advises across all areas of Crime, including Murder & Manslaughter, Serious Violence and Sexual Offences matters.

Marc regularly appears at courts martial both here in the UK and abroad. In addition he has appeared at summary appeals and MCTC adjudications.

Marc also takes instructions in relation to all aspects of prison law, including advising on the correct interpretation of sentences, and the application of those sentences under the various prison regimes. He appears at both parole board hearings and prison adjudications. He has appeared for prisoners in the High Court on applications for Judicial Review.

Featured cases

R v I (2022) – Unlawful Act Manslaughter. Motoring. Junior alone.
R v W (2022) – Multiple rape of very young children. Life sentence imposed. Prosecuting. Junior alone.
R v P (2022) – Armed robbery, aggravated burglary and blackmail. Prosecuting. Leading Junior.
R v S (2021) – Sexual offending by on female child victim. Complex and highly unusual case. Prosecuting. Lead junior. Led by Christopher Paxton QC.
R v C (2021) and others – Complex multi million pound conspiracy to cultivate cannabis. Prosecuting. Lead junior. Lead by Stephen Rose.
R v W (2020) – Murder. Remote defendant not present at scene. Defending. Lead junior. Led by Stephen Rose.
R v B (2020) – Three attempted murders. defending. Conviction of a lesser offence. Lead junior. Led by Jeremy Benson QC.
R v T (2019) – Stranger rape, intoxicated complainant.
R v. E (2018) – Complex computer misuse case concerning the design sale and distribution of crypter software on the dark web. Defending. Leading junior.
R v C (2018) – Successful prosecution of the defendant for both indecent images of children offences, and the conduct of live abuse over the internet. Various complex technical methods used to disguise activity.
R v M (2015) – Successful prosecution of a former lecturer in criminal law for indecent images of children offences. Case made complex by the defendant’s use of virtual machine technology and encryption to obfuscate his criminality and by his decision to represent himself at trial. Prosecuting. Junior alone.
R v L (2015) – Successful prosecution of defendant accused of non-recent offences involving the daily rape of his daughter between the ages of nine and 19. Prosecuting. Junior alone.
R (on the application of AC) v CCRC [2017] EWHC 1219 (Admin) – Murder. Nightclub attack with bottle. Challenge to the Commission’s role when determining matters of law for the purpose of deciding whether to make a reference to the CACD. Consideration of the ‘tenability’ test. Led junior. [Report]
R (on the application of JB) v CCRC [2012] EWCA 3768 Admin – The White House Farm killings, a notorious multiple murder of five family members in 1985. Successfully resisted an application for a judicial review of the defendant’s refusal to refer the case back to the CACD in respect of new ballistic evidence. Junior alone. [Report]
R (on the application of T) v CCRC [2012] EWHC 1462 (admin) – Joint enterprise murder, child defendant. Successfully resisted application to refer case back to CACD based on competence of leading counsel at trial, and perceived conflict of interest. Led junior.
R (on the application of MS) v CCRC (2011) – The Chillenden murders (Lynn and Megan Russell). Successfully resisted an application for judicial review of the Commission’s refusal to refer the case back to the CACD in respect of new material said to undermine cell confession evidence used at trial. Junior alone.

Public & Administrative Law

Marc regularly receives instructions in relation to applications for Judicial Review, notably to appear on behalf of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in respect of challenges to decisions not to refer cases back to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division. He also appears in prison law cases.