Karim S. Khalil QC

Experience
Karim Khalil has been "recommended in crime" for many years in the Chambers & Partners Directory.

He acted as an approved pupil supervisor for 15 years.

Karim Khalil is also recommended by Black Letter Law, a specialist directory also known as the Black Lawyers Directory, which was founded in 2006 with the fundamental aim of highlighting, promoting and championing diversity within the legal profession.

Karim was called to the Bar in 1984, became one of the youngest Assistant Recorders/Recorders, and took silk in 2003 prior to prosecuting Ian Huntley & Maxine Carr (the Soham murders). He defends and prosecutes in the most serious cases, including murder, serious fraud (including Inland Revenue and Customs), drug trafficking and sexual offences. He has developed particular interests in medico-legal, science-based and baby-shaking cases.

Notable prosecution cases include Ian Huntley & Maxine Carr (the Soham murders); R v Wright (He was the first Counsel engaged to represent Steve Wright, the serial Suffolk murderer); R v Jacques (theft of valuable rare antiquarian books and pamphlets belonging to Cambridge University and London libraries); R v Caunter (murder of fiancée and flight to Thailand from where he was extradited); R v Wardens (Cambridgeshire drugs family running a cartel extending to the Caribbean); R v McCarry & Waters (brutal rape and murder of a woman); R v Pun & others (running restaurants and retail outlets in East Anglia using illegal immigrants and selling counterfeit goods).

Karim Khalil successfully resisted legal proceedings against one of the government scientists in the Porton Down investigation and defended in The Cambridge Two (misuse of Drugs Act) and in R v Brown (sado-masochism/human rights). He has been involved in a number of cases involving Police informants and is known for the careful and sensitive handling of such cases. He is also instructed upon significant confiscation work, and writes the chapter on confiscation law in “Fraud: Law Practice & Procedure”.

Karim Khalil has undertaken criminal and civil litigation relating to company fraud (Hannan v DTI, Company Directors Disqualification Act) and civil claims against the police and the prison service. He represented a Cambridge College against the Health and Safety Executive. He has made representations to the Discretionary Lifer Panel and he appears regularly in the Court of Appeal. He was recently instructed to represent Richard Jan on his appeals against conviction and sentence for a campaign of petrol-bombings (said to be one of the most dangerous men in the UK) and he represented the successful appellant in the House of Lords in R v Wang (Judge’s direction to convict, unlawful).

In addition to his mastery of the pathology and related medical specialities arising in babyshaking cases, he has developed a close understanding of the scientific principles underlying palynology (plant based analysis) and mineralogy which led to the successful cross examination of expert witnesses and the half-time acquittal in an allegation of murder.

He has championed the use of the digital presentation of evidence in court. To this end, he works closely with Acume and was the keynote presenter at the inaugural conference for SIOs in the Apple Mac suite in London. Karim Khalil has strong professional links with the Forensic Science Services and LGC and is a member of the British Academy of Forensic Sciences to whom he presented the keynote speech on “The Science of the Soham Murders”.

Notable Cases

R v Pun
Prosecution – Family running restaurants staffed by illegal immigrants and retail outlets selling counterfeit goods.

R v Wang
Appellant in the House of Lords – Judge wrongly directing jury to convict. Now the definitive ruling in such cases. Led Andrew Shaw.

Regina v Chandler, Clarke & Stewart
Prosecution – torture and murder of teenager in scenes copied from a horror film in a high-profile case described by Norfolk Police as ‘the worst case that Norfolk police have had to deal with’ – leading Christopher Morgan

R-v-Huntley & Carr
Prosecution – Soham murders. Download trial article

R-v-Harvey
Defence – murder and dismemberment of relative

R-v-Brown
Defence – sado-masochism

R-v-Jacques
Prosecution – Cambridge University antiquarian thief

R-v-Wyner & Brock
Defence –- "The Cambridge Two"– drugs premises

R-v-Rand
Prosecution – baby assault despite defence successful in family proceedings

R-v-Wang
Appellant in House of Lords – Judge wrongly directing conviction – with Andrew Shaw

R-v-Cheong
Defence–- alleged murder in Guyana 20 yrs ago – manslaughter

R-v-Varian
Defence – VAT fraud – conditional discharge

R-v-Jalil
Defence – 3 month insurance fraud

Hannan -v-DTI
Defence – Company Directors Disqualification Act

HSE-v-Pepper & others
Defence – penalty restricted to Magistrates’ Court level fine despite death of employee

R-v-Warden & others
Prosecution – largest drug conspiracy in Cambridgeshire exposed by international covert Police activity)

Jan-v-Regina
Appellant's request to represent him in relation to a campaign of harassment, including firebombing of a home: described in some newspapers as one of the most dangerous men in the UK – with Gregory Perrins

HSE -v- Kings College, Cambridge University
Defence – asbestos

R-v-Caunter and others
Prosecution – man killed his fiancee by driving over her head and then fled to Thailand. With Gregory Perrins.

R-v-Hubbard
Prosecution – of the killer of a member of Norwich Magistrates' Court staff

Publications

Karim Khalil writes the chapter on Confiscation Proceedings in “Fraud: Law, Practice and Procedure” published by Butterworths. Other members of Chambers assist in the research.

Karim Khalil and Angela Rafferty prepared the submissions of the South Eastern Circuit for the Law Commission Consultation Paper No 173 on "Partial Defences to Murder".

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