Rachel Naylor

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“A top tier and very strong set which stables a great deal of talent that encompasses all areas of crime, fraud and regulatory work.”
Legal 500, 2022

Personal profile

Rachel practises in all areas of Crime, Business Crime & Fraud and Public & Administrative Law.

She combines an eye for detail and meticulous preparation with clear, tactically prudent advice.

Rachel defends and prosecutes in the full range of Crime work with a focus on business crime and fraud, particularly in the context of large, multi-handed cases.

In recent years, Rachel has built on that experience in the field of Public & Administrative Law, focusing on Inquiries and Judicial Review.

Fraud

Rachel’s practice encompasses the full range of criminal work, both prosecuting and defending. She has developed particular experience in financial crime, having been instructed in a series of document-heavy, multi-handed cases. Rachel also represents the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in insolvency cases.

She has considerable experience as disclosure counsel, applying the disclosure regime to large and complex cases.

Featured cases

R v David Mills and others (Op. Hornet) – Instructed as junior prosecution counsel and disclosure counsel in a multi-handed, £250m high-profile prosecution involving allegations of corruption and fraudulent trading between managers at HBOS and leading figures of the UK business community, resulting from a five-year investigation. Played an active part in the five-month trial, including witness handing, drafting admissions and drafting parts of the closing speech. [Press Report]
R v H (LIBOR 1) – Instructed by the SFO as part of the disclosure team.
Tchenguiz – Instructed by the in-house legal team to Vincent Tchenquiz, bringing a damages claim against the SFO and others, arising out of an allegation of fraud relating to the collapse of an Icelandic bank.
V Ltd – Assisted in a case in the VAT Tribunal relating to an alleged multi-million pound carousel fraud.

Serious Violence

Rachel has experience in defending and prosecuting violent crime, having undertaken a variety of cases, including those involving domestic violence, youths, and defendants charged with offences in the course of their employment.

Featured cases

R v S – Successfully defended a care worker charged with ill-treating a person in his care who lacked capacity, by attempting to suffocate her. A colleague gave eye-witness evidence for the prosecution.
R v C – Instructed to defend a teacher charged with assaulting a ten-year old autistic pupil. The pupil was assisted by an intermediary at trial, his mother gave evidence of a recent complaint and two of the defendant’s colleagues gave eye-witness evidence for the prosecution. Defendant acquitted.
R v F – Secured the acquittal of a prison officer charged with assaulting a prisoner by punching him twice. The incident was captured on CCTV and the proceedings involved legal argument as to the admissibility of expert evidence.
R v G-B Successfully argued exceptional circumstances so as to bring the sentence for possession of a prohibited firearm below the five-year statutory minimum.

Crime

Rachel practices in the full range of criminal work, including drugs, dangerous dogs and firearms offences. She has experience in dealing with fitness to plead, hospital orders under the Mental Health Act, quasi-criminal matters such as ASBO applications, and advising clients in relation to planning matters charged under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Featured cases

R v R – Instructed to represent a prison officer charged with conveying a list B article into custody and misconduct in public office, as a result of forming a relationship with a prisoner at the Young Offenders’ Institute in which she worked.

Sexual Offences

Rachel has experience in cases involving Sexual Offences and deals sensitively and effectively with both defendants and complainants.

Featured cases

R v A-R – Successfully resisted an abuse of process argument and s78 application on the basis of entrapment, relating to a group of males who pose as children online, post sexually explicit content, and then arrange to meet the respondents. The legal argument lasted one day and involved live evidence.
R v D – Represented a client who pleaded guilty to 13 counts including sexual assault and assault of children under 13, by penetration and voyeurism against his daughter and step-daughter.
R v M – Successfully defended a teacher charged with sexually assaulting another teacher, where the prosecution adduced evidence of recent complaint.

Road Traffic Offences

Rachel has considerable experience of defending Road Traffic Offences and can offer advice from initial first appearance to trial. She has successfully defended in special reasons hearings, exceptional hardship arguments, trials and appeals to the Crown Court. She has regularly represented bus, train and tram drivers charged with driving offences in the course of their employment. Rachel also has experience before the Tribunal of the Traffic Commissioner.

Featured cases

R v C – Successfully defended a bus driver charged with careless driving, where a young boy’s foot was caught in the door of his bus, causing the boy to fall and be dragged along the road while he drove.
R v E (Tribunal of the Traffic Commissioner) – A HGV driver was permitted to retain his licence having caused half a million pounds of damage to a major road.

Public & Administrative Law

Rachel is Deputy First Junior to the Undercover Policing Inquiry, chaired by Sir John Mitting.

Featured cases

Undercover Policing Inquiry (2017, ongoing) – Analysing and assimilating large quantities of evidence, including:
- identifying and obtaining further evidence including drafting written requests for statements and other evidence to potential witnesses (under rule 9 of the Inquiry Rules 2006);
- considering and advising on restriction order applications, including redactions made for national security reasons and for privacy reasons; and
- providing advice generally on the process of the Inquiry, balancing fairness, proportionality and the risk to the public interest.
Rachel has also been instructed by the government in civil litigation relating to national security.