Sophie Quinton-Carter
Call: 2013
Personal profile
Sophie Quinton-Carter is a dedicated advocate with a busy criminal and regulatory practice. Sophie has experience across a wide range of offences and her meticulous and diligent preparation of cases puts clients and solicitors alike at ease.
In 2024, Sophie spent 12 months prosecuting criminal cases involving drugs importation, firearms and sexual offences in the Cayman Islands where she quickly established a reputation as a fair yet robust prosecutor, and assisted in initiating improvements to the disclosure and evidence gathering landscape. Sophie was also led by King’s Counsel in a high profile murder trial involving the defence in the Cayman Islands of ‘provocation.’
Sophie builds strong and reliable working relationships with both her professional and lay clients, working proactively to provide realistic advice and to present cases for both the prosecution and defence in an efficient and confident manner.
Sophie has extensive experience across large-scale investigations, and has assisted in disclosure reviews including the high-profile appeals of former Post Office subpostmasters, and investigations by HMRC and the NCA into tax evasion in Premier League football and corruption by the former Nigerian Oil Minister. Sophie is currently instructed as disclosure counsel in Operation Northleigh, centred around the investigation into criminal allegations of corporate manslaughter, fraud and health and safety offences following the fire at Grenfell Tower.
Sophie is regularly instructed on behalf of other prosecuting authorities including the Insolvency Service and HSE.
Sophie has also appeared before the Court of Appeal on several occasions, most notably on behalf of the prosecution in Dagistan & Dag [2023] EWCA Crim 636 in relation to the approach to sentencing cases of bounce back loan fraud, and on behalf of the appellant in Roddis [2021] EWCA Crim 1583 in which the approach to sentencing cases of voyeurism on an unprecedented scale was considered.
Sexual Offences
Sophie has worked as both defence and prosecution in Sexual Offences cases.
Featured Cases
- R v S – Prosecuted a young man accused of raping two women in a suburb of Oxford. The defendant was convicted after trial.
- R v M – Led junior for the prosecution where the defendant was accused of multiple counts of rape and serious violence.
- R v S – Prosecuted a stepfather accused of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault in relation to his stepdaughter between the ages of 9 and 13 involving sensitive disclosure issues.
- R v A – Instructed as prosecution counsel in relation to an allegation of rape involving s.41 and bad character arguments.
- R v S & M – Instructed to prosecute two defendants accused of rape and sexual assault of an intoxicated adult female.
- R v T – Acted as defence counsel for a client charged with the attempted kidnap of a 10 year and old subsequent kidnap and sexual assault of a 13 year old.
- R v S – Instructed as defence counsel for a vulnerable female defendant in a case of false imprisonment of escorts, which included encouraging sexual activity.
- R v E – Instructed as defence counsel in a case of assault by penetration in the workplace. The defendant was acquitted after trial.
Serious Violence
Sophie has worked as both defence and prosecution in Serious Violence cases.
Featured Cases
- R v D – Led by King’s Counsel in the prosecution of a high profile murder trial in the Cayman Islands that involved a shooting in public before family members. The defendant was convicted of manslaughter.
- Operation Micco – Instructed as junior prosecution counsel in a case of child abduction and modern slavery that resulted in the conviction of 3 family members at trial. The case involved complex disclosure across different jurisdictions as well as expert evidence surrounding the ability to fabricate learning difficulties
- R v D – Instructed to prosecute the girlfriend of a firearm owner in the Cayman Islands that included the examination of a DNA expert as to secondary transfer
- R v N – Instructed as defence counsel in a case of kidnap and assault
- R v L – Instructed as defence counsel in a matter involving the storage of a handgun and ammunition
- R v D – Instructed as prosecution counsel following an attack with a broken bottle resulting in life changing injuries
Fraud
Sophie has worked as both defence and prosecution in Fraud cases and those involving high value money laundering.
Featured Cases
- Operation Kilo – Instructed as junior prosecution counsel to King’s Counsel in a complex money laundering case involving millions of pounds in cash being laundered through cryptocurrency. The case resulted in the conviction of 7 defendants
- Operation Destin– Instructed as junior prosecution counsel in an alleged multi-million pound fraud concerning a timeshare investment scheme.
- Operation Lorus – Instructed as prosecution counsel in a case involving the sale of a one-time password bot generating almost $2m in cryptocurrency.
- Insolvency Service – Instructed to prosecute several cases of bounce back loan fraud including appearing before the Court of Appeal in Dagistan & Dag [2023] EWCA Crim 636 where the court determined the sentencing approach for frauds relating to Covid-19 Bounce Back Loans.
- R v C – Instructed as prosecution counsel following the identification of an individual involved in the widespread manufacture and distribution of false passports.
- R v P – Instructed as defence counsel in confiscation proceedings involving analysis of Bitcoin and Dark Web accounts, which resulted in the benefit figure being reduced from £300k to £10k.
Drugs Offences
Sophie has worked as both defence and prosecution in Drugs Offences cases.
Featured Cases
- Operation Goodwood – Instructed as junior prosecution counsel in a multi-handed drugs conspiracy involving the use of covert surveillance.
- Operation Gauntlet – Instructed as junior prosecution counsel in a multi-handed county lines drugs conspiracy.
- R v A – Successfully defended a client alleged to have been running a county lines drugs operation involving cocaine
- R v A – Instructed to prosecute a young defendant involved in the supply of drugs across multiple counties leading to a complex and lengthy sentencing exercise
- R v A and another – Instructed as prosecution counsel following a quantity of ecstasy, cannabis, a knife and Halloween mask being located on the back seat of a car.
Regulatory & Professional Disciplinary
Sophie acts for both regulators and registrants in cases of professional misconduct across the healthcare sector.
Featured Cases
- HSE v O – Instructed on behalf of the HSE in relation to an incident involving a young child at a summer camp swimming event who almost drowned. The case involved complex expert evidence surrounding swimming pool regulations for children.
- GOC v B – Instructed on behalf of a student optometrist for whom a short suspension was secured following the falsification of training records
- NMC v B – Instructed on behalf of a nurse facing over 30 charges in a lengthy and complex case involving two registrants, disclosure issues and legal argument
- GMC v T – Instructed to act for the GMC where a doctor had an inappropriate relationship with a patient.
- NMC v B – Instructed to act for the NMC where a nurse had stolen medication on over 700 occasions from a children’s hospital.
Education
- South Eastern Circuit Advanced Advocacy Course, University of Florida, Gainesville
- Maîtrise en droit, Université de Rennes
- LLB Law (European), University of Exeter
Awards
- Criminal Bar Association Florida Scholarship
Professional Appointments
- CPS General Crime (Grade 3)
- CPS Serious Crime (Grade 3)
- CPS Fraud (Grade 3)
- Health and Safety Executive Regulatory List
Memberships
- Inner Temple
- CBA
- South Eastern Circuit
Languages
- French (fluent)