Lydia Pearce

Junior B

10 Jan

Written By Nick Calton, Toucan Creative

Call: 2017

Lydia Pearce

Bradford University BA Hons

ULaw York GDL

BPP Leeds BPTC

Middle Temple Harmsworth Scholar GDL

Middle Temple Harmsworth Scholar BPTC

Blackstones Entrance Exhibition Award

Legal Aid Supplier Number 02FXD

Lydia Pearce has been a tenant of Broadway House Chambers since completing pupillage in 2018 and now works exclusively in Criminal Law.

With previous experience in family and civil law, Lydia is able to appreciate the ways in which these other areas of law can impact criminal cases.

Before coming to the Bar Lydia worked for West Yorkshire Police as a Detention Officer whilst studying law part time over 6 years. Before pupillage Lydia was seconded to work with the National Police Chiefs’ Council on the pre-charge bail provisions of the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Lydia’s arguments were successfully used to make changes to the bill prior to royal assent. Lydia’s guidance document to implementation was disseminated to UK police forces and used by BBC reports on the impact of pre-charge bail.

Notable Cases

Defence

R v T (2024): Instructed as Junior Counsel for the defence, led by Abigail Langford. Ms Pearce was instructed as junior counsel in a case of child sexual offences. The indictment has 27 counts covering offending over 20+ years and 5 complainants. Ms Pearce dealt with client care, unused material, disclosure requests and cross examined a vulnerable witness.

R v P (2024): Instructed as Junior Counsel for the defence, led by Jayne Beckett for defendant 1 of 5 in a historic grooming trial. Ms Pearce handled the voluminous unused material, ongoing disclosure, crystalising all salient material for defence cross examination into a bundle for the court and agreed facts.

R v P (2024): Defence robbery, sexual and physical assault and stalking. Ms Pearce was able to obtain phone downloads from the prosecution on Day 1 of trial. Adjournment was applied for but not granted so whilst the trial was ongoing, Ms Pearce worked with the defence phone expert to compile specific relevant extracts in a short form report. Those extracts were served on the prosecution after the complainant had completed their evidence. The extracts put enough doubt on the credibility of the complainant to force the prosecution to apply to discharge the jury and carry out further investigations which lead to some charges being dropped. Ms Pearce made a full bail application, supported with evidence obtained by solicitors which lead to the defendant being granted bail after being held on remand for over 6 months.

R v X (2023): Reduction of sentence on appeal to the Court of Appeal, sentence was reduced from 12 months immediate custody to 6 months suspended.

R v X (2023): Securing a not guilty verdict for client accused of producing of methamphetamine due to a successful submission to dismiss the case.

R v O (2023): Defendant pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, drug driving, failing to attend court bail and being in breach of a suspended sentence order. Prior to these offences the defendant had received a suspended sentence order (24m suspended for 24M) in July 2020 for possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin. Following mitigation advanced by Ms Pearce, the defendant was sentenced to a community order and the suspended sentence was not activated.

R v M (2023): Ms Pearce was instructed to represent defendant who was charged with Handling Stolen Goods value £10,000+. Lydia carefully researched the defence, collated a bundle of defence evidence and secured agreed facts which undermined the prosecution case. The defendant was acquitted by the jury in less than an hour. .

R v X: Acquittal for a juvenile client on a count of burglary dwelling prior to the client attending court by making successful submissions under S78 of PACE and the overriding objective.

R v X: Mitigated a sentence for a drink driver who provided a sample 3 times over the legal limit after having stopped the car on a moving motorway during a rainstorm, very nearly causing a pile up. Sentenced to community order and driving ban.

Prosecution

R v S & B(2023): Ms Pearce prosecuted 2 separate matters arising from the same incident, a fight. B was charged with S18 assault. The jury convicted him in less than 2 hours and he was sentenced to 5 years immediate custody.

R v D (2023): Defendant pleaded not guilty in the supply of class A drugs. In his evidence he claimed not to be the person on incriminating video footage, relying on his prominent left hand tattoo which was not on his left hand in the video. By inspection of the logo on his top in the video, Ms Pearce was able to prove that the video had been inverted and that the hand in the video was his non-tattooed right hand. He was convicted by the jury.

Lydia was instructed by Leeds City Council in their first ever prosecution of a landlord under Section 1(2) of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. She successfully secured a conviction and a custodial sentence against the defendant.

Prosecuted an appeal against sentence on behalf of Bradford City Council under animal welfare law, the appellant appealed his original sentence of 20 weeks immediate custody, but this was upheld by the Crown Court.

Instructed to prosecute on behalf of Bradford Council under public health legislation a property landlord for waste left in the curtilage of his rental property, the defendant was blind and therefore unable to check if the waste had been collected or not, he was also unrepresented at trial. Lydia worked with the Council sanitation workers, Council legal officers, a trusted and accredited waste removal company and the defendant collaboratively to solve the public health issue and not pursue the matter through the courts.

Clerks

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