Our Lawyers

Simon Jowlett

Simon Jowett

Solicitor Advocate

Simon qualified as a solicitor in May 1997 and in late 1999 made the decision to start Tank Jowett Solicitors with Baljit Tank, his colleague from university, both of whom shared a passion for criminal defence work.

Throughout the years, Simon has taken on cases in all aspects of criminal law, from low level criminal offences up to the most serious of crimes.

Simon has defended in countless serious and high profile cases throughout his career, including over 20 murder cases leading to a crown court trial – one every year on average, fraud, drug importation on a large scale, and blackmail to name but a few, including many cases in the Court of Appeal. Simon has given numerous media interviews and his name is regularly quoted in newspapers as representing defendants in serious cases. All of Simon’s serious and high profile cases have come from recommendations and referrals, a testament to his diligence and hard work. Simon has taken on cases at various stages of the prosecution from being the lawyer in the police station interview, to being called in to take over the case in the middle of the trial.

Simon has been defending clients with great success for 25 years. That has allowed him to build up a work ethic and practice in maximising the chances of success in a case. His rules of running a case are as follows:

“There is a direct link between the amount of work the lawyer puts in to a case and the result”.

Simon has achieved for clients what many other lawyers have failed to do, but in many cases it comes down to honest hard work. As he says, “Many lawyers give up too easily. They think there is no point, or they can’t be bothered, perhaps because they may be working for a fixed fee, or they switch off at 5.30pm. It’s at that point that you are really letting your client down. You have to see the result you want, and not give up until you achieve it, which could include a not guilty verdict, or the case being dropped.”

“Instruct the best barristers, but don’t depend on them”

You have to take responsibility for the case. If you are using a barrister, make sure he or she has a good track record, and cares about your client’s case. But you can’t just leave the case to them. You have to make sure the case is fully prepared, before it goes to the barrister.

“Every case is equally important”

Simon has defended in countless murder cases, but often relishes defending in small cases as well. Why? Often the smallest criminal case will be, to the client, the biggest most important issue in their life at that moment in time. As Simon says, “criminal cases, including small cases, such as a harassment case, or a theft matter, can destroy careers, split up families, ruin businesses, and cause irreparable damage to people’s lives. Even if the penalty as low, the client could lose his whole business, his job, or his career. He goes on, “I have walked into the office having just come back from an Old Bailey murder trial, and seen a professional client wrongly accused of harassment. The case may seem minor. But, the chances are, he hasn’t slept for a month. His stress levels are through the roof. That case is a must win. The client is depending on you. Don’t let him down”.

“Remember the responsibility on your shoulders”

The alleged victims have the support of the police and the whole system. But the criminal defendant? Who may very well be innocent? He or she gets one lawyer to fight for them. Never forget, as a criminal lawyer, just how much responsibility is on your shoulders.

“Just because your client is innocent, or only played a minor role in the commission of an offence, does not mean that the Prosecutor will see it that way”

The system can be grossly unfair on your client. Many prosecutors, especially in large conspiracy type cases involving tens of thousands of pages of evidence, get lost in their own evidence. The danger is that they create a false inaccurate picture of what your client did, because they don’t understand their own case. Getting the Prosecutor to change his or her mind can be sometimes almost impossible. But in many cases it is achievable. The criminal lawyer must never relax, until the result is achieved, such as a not guilty verdict, the case being dropped or a low sentence. The Prosecutor must be educated as to why your client is innocent, if you want him to drop the case.

“Remember the value of expert evidence”

Simon regularly instructs experts in the form of forensic accountants, psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, drugs experts, and road traffic experts to name but a few. Expert evidence can bolster your client’s case in a way that could prove decisive, and should always be explored.

“Always explore the possibility of preventing your client from being charged”

Very often, clients are placed on police bail, pending further enquiries, but the vast majority of lawyers do nothing to prevent their client from being charged, preferring to sit back and wait for a case to materialise. This is however missing a golden opportunity to advance your client’s interests. Work on preventing your client from being charged, by obtaining as much evidence as possible, and making representations to the police and prosecutors that there is no realistic prospect of conviction, or that the case is not in the public interest, the two tests that prosecutors must apply before authorising a charge.

“Hire the best staff”

Simon has employed hundreds of would be lawyers over the years. Many of today’s solicitors in London trained under Simon. Simon nowadays has the following message: “Nowadays, I only take on people who have demonstrated a clear passion for the law, and criminal law at that. I need efficient hard working people to help me with my work. In 2008 I was running a murder trial, a spying case, the Royal blackmail case and a conspiracy to obtain a Royal pardon, all at the same time. But the solicitors I had working with me were exceptional, and together, we gave the clients the service they deserved.”

Simon was instructed to act in appeal proceedings, and made huge efforts to achieve justice for Kenneth Noye fighting against continuous unwarranted adverse publicity and groundless prejudice and bias. Simon travelled internationally in his enquiries in this case including spending time trawling through the archives section of the High Court in Madrid.

This client was recommended to Simon and faced charges of conspiracy to traffick prostitutes and control prostitutes, one of 10 defendants. In a huge case lasting over a year, with 15,000 pages of evidence, the client was eventually found not guilty, the only defendant to be acquitted. This case involved travelling around Europe taking statements and gathering evidence to secure the client’s defence. 

Simon was instructed by the former ‘great train robber’ to secure his final release from prison, taking on the Home Secretary in the High Court, winning the first stage of a Judicial Review, before securing his release on compassionate grounds. ‘Ronnie’ Biggs went on to live in Barnet, North London, for 4 years, before finally passing away in 2013. As Simon says, ‘the decision to keep Ronnie in prison was purely for political reasons – the government could not afford to be seen to be weak on crime. But 45 years had passed since the original offence, and Ronnie had served his time –  justice required that he be released.’

Simon was approached by a client in Wales wishing to change his lawyer facing charges of Conspiracy to Supply Class A drugs and money laundering. The client had already been advised to plead guilty by his former lawyers. Had that client been convicted, he would have faced 10 years in prison. But the further Simon looked at the case, the more it became apparent that the Crown Prosecution Service had largely constructed a case out of circumstantial evidence and hearsay evidence. The potential impact on the client was horrifying, as he was the sole carer of a 10 year old boy. After 4 months of instructing drugs experts and forensic accountants, and detailed representations, the Crown Prosecution Service eventually agreed to drop the main charge, and the client pleaded guilty to low level cannabis supply. The result? A suspended sentence.

After the client sacked his lawyer and instructed Simon in August 2011, Simon took on an immense but flawed HMRC prosecution involving over 40,000 pages of evidence, alleging Cheating the Public Revenue. The livelihoods of TS and his coaccused had been destroyed by an ill thought out investigation, and when Simon took on matters, the client was at a low ebb. Fifteen months later, after Simon involved expert forensic accountants to help pull apart the Crown’s case, and only 6 weeks before a 3 month long trial was due to start, the Crown finally bowed to pressure and dropped the cases against all 3 defendants.

Simon represented one of two persons charged with blackmail on a member of the Royal Family, the first case of such a kind for over 100 years, and reported on the front page of every national newspaper. Huge public resources were invested in prosecuting the defendants, and Simon worked tirelessly for 9 months on the case, battling against the weight of a well funded prosecution machine.

Simon defended a young Somali man facing murder charges over a 12 month period, advising him over 3 days of interviews in the police station, obtaining bail for him in extraordinary circumstances, before eventually, on the eve of the trial, persuading the Crown Prosecution Service to discontinue the charges, in what was a tremendously stressful period for the young man, who to this day remains thankful to Simon for his hard work and support and recommends clients on a regular basis.

Simon represented the lead defendant in a Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice case, where it was alleged that the Defendants had conspired together to obtain a Royal Pardon for two convicted drug dealers in 1995. The case involved allegations of corruption throughout the Criminal Justice system from customs officers to judges and even the then home secretary, and with 30,000 pages of served evidence, and five months to prepare after the Defendant sacked his lawyer and asked Simon to represent him, it was a huge undertaking.

Other Information

The above are just a small number of the serious cases Simon has dealt with. He has secured numerous acquittals for his clients over the years, and is thanked by clients and their families for the tireless effort and energy he puts in to cases. No case is too big, and no case too small. Each criminal prosecution is tremendously important to a client. Whatever the criminal charges his clients face, his approach is to take on the matter as if it were his own, and devote all his resources to achieve the best possible outcome he can. As one City of London police detective recently begrudgingly said to Simon in the middle of a £8million mortgage fraud confiscation case – ‘If I ever got into trouble – I’d use you!’

Simon regularly takes on cases on either a private or legal aid basis and can be contacted directly as above.

Testimonials

Ian Strachan

I was arrested by 32 anti terrorist police officers, faced the entire might of the Metropolitan Police force, and was prosecuted by the No 1. prosecuting barrister in the country all for what I will always claim was a misconceived and false blackmail allegation by a member of the Royal Family. Despite that, Simon was the rock of my defence. He was totally unfazed by the press obsession with the case, or the prosecution resources levelled against me, and worked tirelessly to achieve justice for me. I will forever be grateful to him for his efforts and would always recommend him.

TS

Where do I start? Without Simon I would probably have been wrongly convicted and would have been spending the next 10 years in prison, so misconceived were the allegations against me. Simon’s insight into the case, and his involvement of an expert forensic accountant destroyed the case against me. The Judge finally saw things from my perspective, and the Crown were forced to drop the case, not just against me but also against my co defendants. I was finally able to start getting my life back on track after a horrendous 3 years. Simon achieved this for me, no question about it, and I will forever be grateful to him for what he did.

Kenneth Noye

I needed a lawyer to fight my corner properly, recognise the bias and prejudice throughout my case, and help me fight for justice. I wish I’d used Simon from the start. He understands my position, and doesn’t give up. I would recommend him to anyone serious about their defence in criminal proceedings.