Kate Bex KC
Call: 1992 | Silk: 2017
Personal profile
Nominated for Crime Silk of the Year 2022, Kate Bex is a highly regarded criminal advocate who defends and prosecutes.
She specialises in Murder & Manslaughter and large scale Serious & Organised Crime.
Kate has experience of dealing with novel areas of law; she prosecuted an importation and supply of firearms by rival south London gangs involving a new weapon not seen by forensic scientists before which required expert evidence on the interpretation of s5 Firearms Act to set a precedent for future cases. Kate prosecuted the first FGM trial and successfully defended in the second. She prosecuted the first case of County Lines using Human Trafficking law, which went to the Court of Appeal twice.
Kate has been involved in cases requiring considerable sensitivity; defending a mother in the tragic killing of both of her children whilst suffering from an undiagnosed serious mental illness and defending a man accused of sexually assaulting eight women including children in a campaign lasting fifteen years.
Kate was a Steering Committee Member of the Private Prosecutors’ Association who contributed to the drafting of the Code for Private Prosecutors.
Recommendations
― Legal 500 (2024)She is thoroughly prepared and never misses any thing – her eye for details is unrivalled. In court she is laser sharp and commands attention – her closing speeches are a masterclass in advocacy.
― Legal 500 (2023)She is thoroughly prepared and never misses any thing – her eye for details is unrivalled. In court she is laser sharp and commands attention – her closing speeches are a masterclass in advocacy.
― Chambers UK (2023)A consummate professional who is excellent with clients.
― Legal 500 (2023)Kate is the consummate prosecutor. She can be a tough opponent, as she is dedicated and very bright, but she is also compassionate and conspicuously fair.
― Legal 500 (2022)Kate is a consummate performer. Nothing fazes her. She is a very strong, confident presence in court who prepares every case extremely thoroughly, trusted by the court, her own team and her professional colleagues.
― Chambers UK (2022)Enormously talented, great to work with, down to earth and pragmatic. She has a backbone of steel.
― Chambers UK (2022)You can have confidence in her judgement. She has an innate ability to laser through the issues and get to the heart of a case.
― Chambers UK (2022)Very organised and knows her field.
― Chambers UK (2022)An attractively direct style.
― Chambers UK (2022)She is very industrious and very focussed and never hesitates to deal with even the most ignorant of queries.
― Chambers UK (2022)Relentless and uncompromising on the right case.
― Chambers UK (2021)She is a committed, tenacious advocate who will leave no stone unturned to win a case. Unflappable and tactically astute, she can cope with anything.
― Legal 500 (2021)Kate is a barrister who wakes up the court. Utterly fearless she will take on judge, co-defender, prosecutor, witness without a tremor. Her case preparation is phenomenal and she believes in exploring all the evidence. Fiercely protective of her client, solicitor and junior she is nevertheless a brave and shrewd tactician.
― Chambers UK (2021)Has an extremely good memory and can get to grips with large volumes of material.
― Chambers UK (2020)She is relentless and uncompromising on the right cases.
― Chambers UK (2018)She is very good. She has an attractively direct style. She is very business-like and pragmatic.
― Chambers UK (2018)You can have confidence in her judgement. She has an innate ability to laser through the issues and get to the heart of a case.
― Legal 500 (2016)She is very organised and knows her field.
― Legal 500 (2016)A tenacious and effective advocate.
― Chambers UK (2016)She is enormously talented, great to work with, down to earth and pragmatic. She has a backbone of steel.
― Chambers UK (2016)She is very straightforward, clear, effective, and conscientious in her presentations.
― Chambers UK (2015)She is very industrious and very focused, and never hesitates to deal with even the most ignorant of queries.
Fraud
Kate has many years’ experience as a Fraud practitioner. She defended in the London City Bond litigation and in the race-fixing trial at the Old Bailey and the subsequent regulatory proceedings before the British Horseracing Authority which concluded with the first Goodyear indication outside a criminal court.
She has also successfully appeared for the defence in the Court of Appeal (R v Moulden [2008] EWCA 2561) for a client charged with money laundering on a point of law concerning confiscation under both the CJA 1988 and POCA 2003 which saved her client approximately £500k.
Featured cases
- R v D&S (ongoing) – Multi-million pound fraud.
- Operation Willsbridge (2017) – Instructed to prosecute a defendant in a multi-million pound international fraud involving the theft of film equipment.
- Operation Mandate (2017) – Instructed to defend in a large fraud on rail companies involved in Farringdon and Cross Rail.
Murder & Manslaughter
Featured cases
- R v A and others (ongoing) – Instructed to prosecute an eight-handed murder, with four others accused of perverting the course of justice.
- R v Q (2019) – Instructed to defend a young woman accused of murder. The defendant was acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter.
- R v K (2018) – Instructed to prosecute the ‘Snapchat Queen’. [Press Report]
- R v P (2018) – Successfully defended a man accused of murdering his partner.
- R v B (2017) – Domestic violence murder. [Press Report]
- R v C (2017) – Murder with complicated psychiatric evidence.
Serious Violence
Featured cases
- Operation Icarus – Eight-handed armed robbery.
- R v S (2017) – Serious violence by offender in Broadmoor. This involved complicated psychiatric evidence surrounding the ability to form intent.
- Operation Rinkle (2014) – Shoot-out between two rival gangs in a hall packed with partygoers. Anonymity orders were in place.
Road Traffic Offences
Featured cases
- R v W (2017) – Causing death by careless driving.
- R v V (2016) – Causing death by dangerous driving.
- R v D (2016) – Police officer caused serious injury by dangerous driving whilst on duty.
Serious & Organised Crime
Featured cases
- Operation Crepitus (2017) – Causing explosions in order to steal from ATM machines. [Press Report]
- Operation Goldhawk (2016) – 18-handed conspiracy to rob mobile phone shops.
- Operation Morguld (2015) – Conspiracy to rob jewellers and money laundering, involving covert recordings in a car.
- Operation Goal (2014) – £60m of Class A drugs imported from Holland.
Sexual Offences
Featured cases
- R v S (2019) – GP abused his position of trust by sexually assaulting patients. [Press Report]
- R v McCann (2017) – Rape by offender only 13 months after release from sentence for rape and 12 hours before his wedding. [Press Report]
- R v P (2016) – Consultant gynaecologist who abused his position by sexually assaulting patients falsely claiming that a breast examination was clinically indicated. [Press Report]
- R v X (2015) – Successfully defended a trainee doctor accused of sexually assaulting two geriatric patients.
- R v C and C (2015) – 18-year-old virgin trafficked from Romania and subsequently raped and forced into prostitution.
- R v X and Y (2015) – The first ever prosecution under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.
Human Trafficking
Featured cases
- Operation Pibera (2019) – Trafficking children and a vulnerable adult for the purpose of supplying drugs aka ‘county lines’. The first prosecution of its kind. There was a successful appeal against the judge’s ruling of no case to answer. All defendants were convicted on retrial and convictions were upheld in CACD. [Press Report]
Professional Discipline
Before taking silk, Kate regularly appeared at the General Medical Council, General Dental Council, General Pharmaceutical Council, Nursing & Midwifery Council and National College for Teaching and Leadership for many years. Kate has also sat as a Legal Assessor at the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service since 2000.
Kate has appeared before the High Court for Judicial Review and in the County Court for the first appeals from a decision of the GMC’s Registration Appeals Panel.
She also defends healthcare and other professionals who face criminal proceedings arising out of their work, as well as those in other industries such as a racehorse trainer who faced proceedings brought by the BHA.
Kate has been instructed by the General Pharmaceutical Council as independent counsel to cross examine the complainant in a rape case where the registrant was unrepresented and therefore precluded from cross examining her himself.
She has been instructed by the medical defence organisations in a number of inquests, where she has represented doctors and successfully avoided criticism in the coroner’s report.
Featured cases
- Dr C (2017) – Instructed on a direct access basis for a doctor accused of sexual assault. Successfully argued against an interim order of suspension and for discontinuance after proceedings lasting two years.
- Dr E (2016) – Doctor accused of dishonesty.
- Dr M (2013) – The doctor saw the deceased, a 14-year-old girl, whilst on call for the out of hours service. 12 hours later she collapsed and died from an undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis. The inquest heard evidence from numerous experts and the coroner concluded the GP’s actions were reasonable.
- GMC v L (2011) – A consultant surgeon was investigated following multiple patient deaths after laparoscopic surgery. He was found to have acted outside his area of competence and to have been dishonest when working on restricted duties.
International Criminal Law
Featured cases
- Gibraltar (2017) – Successfully represented a youth with Asperger Syndrome, convicted of a child sex offence, on his appeal against sentence imposed under Gibraltarian law. Obtained a lifetime anonymity order for the defendant.
- Jersey (2017) – Advised the Attorney General of Jersey on the correctness of directions in law at first instance and whether a sentence was unduly lenient, following the death of a three-year-old who was on holiday on the island with his family.
- Oman (2017) – As part of a three-person mission with Beyond Borders, a non-profit NGO, visiting the Office of the Public Prosecution to scope future training for Omani prosecutors and judges in human trafficking and drug trafficking.
- Sudan (2018) – Part of a team working with Unicef.
Inquests & Inquiries
Featured cases
- R v W, A, K [2020] EWCA Crim 783 – Principles to apply to Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders.
- R v K, W, A [2018] EWCA Crim 1432 – Prosecution appeal against ruling of no case to answer.
- R v Amin [2014] EWCA Crim 1924 – So-called ‘honour killing’ of Banaz Mahmod. Judgment concerning the admissibility of hearsay statements by others including co-accused which implicated the appellant.
- R v Kelly [2010] EWCA Crim 1793 – An IPP sentence was reduced.
- R v S [2009] EWCA Crim 2457 – The meaning of substantial probative value for the purposes of bad character.
- R v Tayor [2009] EWCA Crim 544 – Concerning the correct direction to the jury on a s18 wounding.
- CPS v Moulden [2008] EWCA Crim 2648 – Successfully opposed the prosecution’s appeal against a confiscation order. The case established that where a defendant is convicted on two separate indictments, each indictment constitutes separate proceedings for the purposes of assessing whether the offender has a criminal lifestyle.
- R v Corcoran [2008] EWCA Crim 1600 – Concerning the interaction between a basis of plea and the basis upon which a confiscation order can be made.
- GMC v Uruakpa [2007] EWHC 2057 (Admin) – Appeal against the refusal to grant an extension of an interim order restricting a doctor’s right to practice.
- R v Watson [2008] EWCA Crim 470 – Appeal against sentence on the grounds of totality.
- R v Beardall [2006] EWCA Crim 577 – Appeal following the London City Bond cases concerning participating informants.
- R v G [2006] EWCA Crim 500 – Convictions arising from the evidence of two children, aged seven and five were safe.
- R v Swaray [2005] EWCA Crim 1951 – Concerning disparity in sentence and credit for guilty pleas.
- R v Simmonds [2005] EWCA Crim 1270 – Appeal against sentence for serious sexual offending and the use of extended sentences.
- R v McDermott [2004] EWCA Crim 2984 – Sentences for causing death by dangerous driving.
- AG’s ref (Nos 54, 55 and 56 of 2004) [2004] EWCA Crim 2062 – Regarding sentences for young offenders.
- R v Lobban [2004] EWCA Crim 1099 – Concerning the admissibility of a statement as hearsay and the correct procedure on a voir dire.
- R v Pelzer [2004] EWCA Crim 652 – Relating to participating informants and whether a fair trial is possible in circumstances where another country refuses to provide disclosure of relevant material.
- R v C [2001] EWCA Crim 201 – Arising from inconsistent verdicts.
- R v O’Brien [1996] C.L.Y. 1543 – Concerning the direction to the jury following the acquittal of a co-defendant.
Education
- BA (Hons) Law and English Literature
Professional appointments
- Recorder (2017)
- CPS HQ Specialist Fraud Panel (2013-2017)
- CPS HQ Serious Crime Panel (2013-2017)
- Accredited Mediator for Civil/Commercial Disputes (2007)
- CPS Rape Panel (2005-2017)
- Legal Assessor at the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (2000)
Memberships
- CBA
- ARDL
- PPA
- HSLA
- FLA
- Liberty
- South Eastern Circuit