Steven Ball
Call: 1996
“There are an impressive and well respected pool of advocates at this set.”
Legal 500, 2022
Personal profile
Steven is a versatile and experienced criminal practitioner who prosecutes and defends in a wide variety of cases both as a leading and led junior.
He is known for a calm and engaging manner with clients and witnesses and for his effective advocacy in court.
Steven is a Grade 4 on the CPS General Crime Panel; he is also on the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences panel and was recently appointed to the Serious Crime Panel.
Steven has a strong practice in cases involving serious sexual offences.
He has particular expertise in cases involving modern slavery and human trafficking offences, including s1 slavery cases; trafficking for economic and sexual exploitation and people smuggling.
He is an accredited Mediator in civil and workplace conflicts.
His expertise in civil litigation includes public liability, workplace accidents, clinical negligence and motor fraud.
Over the years he has appeared in many inquests.
In recent years Steven has taught advocacy to bar students on an occasional basis at BPP and ULaw.
Prior to joining chambers Steven practiced on the Northern Circuit for over 25 years and was a tenant at a leading criminal set in Liverpool where he retains a door tenancy.
Steven is based at the Chelmsford annexe and works across East Anglia but also accepts instructions in London and nationally.
Serious & Organised Crime
Steven’s recent case load for the CPS and SEOCID as a leading junior includes:
- Operation Gybe (2024) – Leading junior in the prosecution of six Defendants accused of conspiracy to import cannabis resin over £1.5 million pounds in value, concealed in ceramic pots of Citronella candles from Spain, into the UK via mainland Europe.
- Operation Mount (2024) – Leading junior in the prosecution of eight Defendants over a major public disturbance at a late-night venue in Liverpool City Centre and involved violent disorder; the possession and use of weapons and multiple section 18 woundings.
- Operation Castle (2022) – Prosecution of a multi-handed conspiracy to rob involving a team of professional burglars who targeted homes as bogus officials.
Sexual Offences
Steven prosecutes and occasionally defends in all aspects of this sensitive work
He has appeared in cases involved in marital rape and misogyny; indecent images and evidence obtained from on-line paedophile hunter groups.
- R v N (2025) – Prosecution of a D for the on-line grooming of three un-related teenage girls who he exploited, coerced and sexually abused over a period of 18 months.
- R v H (2025) – Prosecution of D for offences of rape against Step-Daughter.
- R v C (2024) – prosecution of 37 year fireman for conducting a relationship with a 14 year old schoolgirl.
- R v S (2024) – Prosecution of D for Rape, Strangulation, Assault and Kidnap
- R v S (2024) – Prosecution of a Defendant aged 89, for historic abuse of a choir boy whist he was a vicar in the 1970’s
- R v N (2024) – Prosecution of a 78-year-old Defendant for historic sexual offences against a vulnerable 15-year-old girl, whilst he was the warden at a caravan park.
- R v W (2024) – Prosecution of a female Defendant aged 19, who had embarked on a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl despite being warned by the girl’s mother to keep away.
- R v H (2024) – Prosecution of a Defendant for the sexual abuse of his daughter, the possession and distribution of images related to the abuse, amongst chatrooms and on social media.
- R v D (2024) – Prosecution of a 26-year-old male Defendant who had met, online, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who he groomed, sexually abused and solicited intimate photographs from which he used to coerce her with
- R v L (2024) – Prosecution of a Defendant who was the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was found to be in possession of several videos depicting himself performing sexual acts on victims, who appeared to be unaware and asleep.
- R v D (2024) – Prosecution of a bus driver charged with the sexual assault of a schoolgirl.
- R v B [2023] – Prosecution of a University student for allegations of rape and sexual assault on two different female students within days of each other shortly after Fresher’s Week.
- R v R (2023) – Prosecution of a Defendant for historical sexual abuse of his stepdaughter from around the age of 10, groomed by the Defendant whilst her mother was at work.
- R v L (2023) – Prosecution of a Defendant for historical sexual abuse of his niece, aged 10 at the time, and the simultaneous abuse of a 13-year-old daughter of a family friend.
- R v JBT (2023) – Prosecution of a Defendant involved in the distribution of a large volume of indecent images and videos depicting his serious sexual offences against adults and children.
- R v DS (2023) – represented a D who was charged with rape and coercive and controlling behaviour.
- R v MV (2023) – represented an 82-year-old Defendant accused of historical sexual offences against his daughter, who was under 13 at the time.
Fraud
Steven’s recent work for the prosecution and defence includes:
- Operation Ballast [2024] as a led junior and with specific responsibility for disclosure was instructed by the prosecution in a case involving a complex fraud and the forgery of letters of guarantee with those associated with running petrol stations.
- R v LJS (2023) – Represented the Defendant in a case brought by the Insolvency Service concerning misconduct during the winding up of the company.
- Operation Paintbox (2023/2024) – a joint prosecution between SEOCID and DWP of an inside-job fraud perpetrated by DWP employees, and accomplices, who misused the private financial details and data of multiple vulnerable claimants.
- R v SF & SN (2023) – Appointed by Judge Murray at Liverpool Crown Court pursuant to section 38 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, to cross examine in a case involving two un-represented Defendants facing allegations of perverting the course of justice, and perjury arising from a civil case to a will.
Human Trafficking
Steven has a wide experience of cases involving modern day slavery and human trafficking.
- Operation Sheetful (2024) – Leading junior in NCA prosecution of a Kurdish ‘smuggler’ who was at the head of a sophisticated people trafficking network which assisted migrants to cross Europe and enter the UK illegally by dinghy.
- R v AA & MP (2023) – Defending an Eastern European female accused of: Conspiracy to Control Prostitution, and Trafficking and Exploitation of numerous Eastern European sex workers, across the Midlands and North-West.
- R v DX (2023) – Prosecution of an Albanian national who was found in a derelict mobile phone warehouse which had been set up for the wholesale production of cannabis.
- R v QVT (2023) – Defended a Vietnamese national who had been illegally trafficked into the UK in a lorry who was found tending to a large crop of cannabis in a residential property.
Regulatory & Professional Disciplinary
- R (Maritime & Coastal Agency) v DE (2022) – representing a Defendant, a tugboat skipper on the Mersey, facing maritime regulatory offences following the death of a crew member.
- R v PH (2023) – Defended a prison officer for misconduct in public office having taken contraband into prison.
Other
- R v S (2024) – Defended a serving prisoner on an IPP for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs from his cell.
- R v D (2024) – Prosecution of 3 Defendants for conspiracy to kidnap a child. Two of them were accused of attempting to pass themselves off as uniformed police officers, armed with warrant cards and paperwork from the court, to take the child away from its foster parents.
- R v JC (2024) – Defended a man accused of assisting his co-accused in enforcing a drug debt by driving him across the country , and by keeping watch whilst his co-accused discharged a shot gun into the front of a house which was occupied.
- R v B, S and L (2024) – Prosecuted a three-handed robbery trial where a house was targeted by a group who broke in and threatened the house holders with imitation guns and Samurai swords before making off with cash and mobile phones.
- R v B, S and L (2024) – Prosecuted a three-handed robbery trial where a house was targeted by a group who broke in and threatened the house holders with imitation guns and Samurai swords before making off with cash and mobile phones.
Education
ICSL London
University of Hull
Awards
Inner Temple:
Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Award
Memberships
Inner Temple
CBA
The Northern Circuit
Professional Appointments
CPS Panel Advocate (General Crime) (Grade 4)
CPS Panel Advocate (RASSO)
CPS Specialist Panel (Serious Crime) (Grade 3)
Accredited as a Mediator