News for: Nicholas Cotter

Nick Cotter in complex health and safety case : R v Young & Others 2021 (Cardiff)

4th March 2022

3PB criminal and regulatory barrister Nick Cotter, pictured here, represented South Wales Safety Consultancy Ltd which was one of the defendants in a Crown Court trial, after a scaffolder was crushed to death when a church collapsed ahead of its demolition in Cardiff. This was a complex case concerning individual corporate defendants facing a range of offences and four contractors were given suspended prison sentences. Keith Young was the contractor in charge of the demolition,...

5 year FA ban successfully overturned by 3PB Sports Team

6th October 2020

3PB sports law and disciplinary specialist barristers Nick Cotter and Graham Gilbert were successful in a FA appeal hearing on behalf of a talented 16 year old footballer, Nathan Hieatt, who in February 2020 was accused of spitting at a referee's foot and given a 5 year ban at the initial FA hearing. In spite of five witnesses from his team and his college tutor corroborating Nathan’s story, and with the referee having no independent...

Crime barrister Nicholas Cotter of 3PB appeared as junior counsel for the defence in the first criminal trial in the UK to successfully return to the courts since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020. The fifty-eight day trial at the Old Bailey involved six young defendants who faced an allegation of murder with the stabbing of a male on the Edgware Road in West London. The case helped provide a working example on the...

3PB’s criminal law barrister Nicholas Cotter, acting for the defence, assisted in reducing the life tariff of a son who sadly murdered his father when under the influence of butane gas. Dominic Hodgson, 37, thought his father had "turned evil" when he inflicted multiple head wounds at their shared home in Sherborne, Dorset, in May. Robert Hodgson, 72, had reluctantly let his son stay with him as he had nowhere to go, Winchester Crown Court...

Following a terrible fire at Newgrange Care Home in Hertfordshire, in which two elderly residents died, regulatory and health and safety barrister Nicholas Cotter acted for the care home manager Alison Wood. Mrs Wood pleaded not guilty to five Fire Reform Order offences. Significant expert evidence was then considered to help determine issues of causation, fire compartment, building regulations and regulatory fault in the tragic loss of life. The CPS indicated before trial that they would offer no...

Independent bus operator Abus - which runs bus services in Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and further afield - turned to 3PB’s public and regulatory barrister Nick Cotter when the business faced possible suspension of its licence and closure of the business. Abus’ boss Alan Peters appealed the ruling from the Traffic Commissioner who controls and polices bus and haulage firm licences. The Traffic Commissioner Kevin Rooney had earlier held a public inquiry into the management...

3PB Barristers, Nick Cotter, Elisabeth Bussey-Jones and Adam Norris, have represented defendants in Birmingham Crown Court in relation to a conspiracy to bring drugs and other contra-band items including mobile phones into a variety of prisons across the UK by using of drones.  The “Drone Conspiracy” has been described as the largest ever seen in the UK. It involved various participants playing different roles in the use of drones to steer and navigate perimeter fences and deliver cannabis,...

Nicholas Cotter successfully argues exceptional circumstances in a dishonesty case before the Solicitors Regulatory Tribunal. The case involved evidentially challenging any issues of intention relating to third parties and a reasoned approach to the criteria laid out in the case of Sharma in order to preserve the career of a solicitor. Click here to read Nicholas' profile.

On 15 March 2018 3PB Barristers Nicholas Leviseur, Nicholas Cotter and Sunyana Sharma presented a seminar on The CQC: Aims, Powers and Enforcement Powers and provided a Regulatory and Discipline Update on Practice and Procedure to solicitors in Manchester. Topics covered included Sanction, Insight, Dishonesty, GDPR, Professional Reporting and Open Reporting. Click here to view Nicholas Leviseur's profile. Click here to view Nicholas Cotter's profile. Click here to view Sunyana Sharma's profile. To arrange a seminar with our Professional Disciplinary team, contact...

3PB Barrister Nicholas Cotter has successfully demonstrated before Lincoln Crown Court that his client was not responsible for causing the actual deaths of three residents arising from a breach of Health and Safety (non-employees) in a care home. The Care Home had on advice admitted security and risk assessment failures linked to its care of the three residents and was fined £70,000.