Toby Hall

Practice

Toby practices in criminal defence and quasi-criminal areas including proceeds of crime, prison law, and licensing. He is an experienced Crown Court advocate and regularly defends in cases of serious violence and dishonesty. He has an interest in financial crime, including confiscation and forfeiture proceedings.

In addition, Toby has also assisted in the defence of a number of murder and terrorism trials and advises on appeals to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

General Crime

R v Mohamed – Double arson by an inpatient in a secure mental health unit. Successfully argued at trial that the defendant was not guilty by reason of insanity. The case involved the instruction of multiple experts and the cross-examination of a consultant psychiatrist.

R v Muradzikwa – Successfully defended an individual charged with possession of a sawn-off shotgun. The gun was found with live ammunition in a children’s playground. The defence involved analysis of both DNA and fingerprint evidence.

R v Fofanah – Defendant acquitted of robbery. The prosecution case was based on several hundred pages of cell site analysis from multiple mobile telephones. The prosecutor offered no evidence on the day of trial after a successful defence application to exclude evidence.

R v Banton – Defendant tried in relation to a home invasion robbery. The offence involved violence with knives and forcing the victim to take drugs over several hours. After submissions in mitigation the defendant was not found to be dangerous within the meaning of the CJA 2003.

R v David – Pleaded guilty to a multi-handed post-office robbery using handguns, inflicting serious injuries on the postmaster. A further similar robbery was left to lie on the file. The defendant was extradited from Romania after investigation by the Flying Squad.

R v McCarry – Advice on the merits of an appeal to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The defendant was convicted of rape, murder, perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The case involved consideration of prejudicial media reporting and the proximity of the trial to that of the serial killer Steve Wright.

Fraud and Financial Regulation

R v Rohio – Represented a foreign national charged with £100,000 benefit fraud, committed over six years.

R v Balodis – Individual charged with money laundering offences arising out of internet-banking frauds. The defendant pleaded guilty to lesser offences, limiting the prosecution’s scope to pursue confiscation.

Assisted in the preparation of and appeared at hearings in:

R v Srebro, a multi-handed £17 million confiscation case involving letters of request to Israel.

R v Patel, a joint SFO and FSA investigation into boiler room fraud.

Background / Education

Toby studied English and Foreign Literature at York University, where he graduated with a first class undergraduate degree and a distinction in his Masters. After converting to law he was awarded the Inner Temple Major Scholarship, Duke of Edinburgh Scholarship and Neville Laski Scholarship.

Other interests

Outside law, Toby enjoys snowboarding, mountain-biking and travel. Before coming to the bar he volunteered for NGOs in Tanzania and Ecuador.