Abdul Iqbal KC & Kitty Colley appear as leading and junior counsel for Respondents in the appeal of R -v- Sheikh & others at the United Kingdom Supreme Court (“UKSC”)

The appeal to the UKSC was from the ruling of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division concerning the statutory construction of section 5(1)(d(iii) of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 which governs the offence of causing or allowing a vulnerable adult to die or suffer serious physical harm.

The judgment of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division (R -v- Sheikh & others [2025] EWCA Crim 38) can be found here.

The UK Supreme Court (Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Burrows, Lady Rose, Lady Simler) heard oral submissions on Thursday 25 June 2026. A recording of the appeal hearing is publicly available here.

Judgment was handed down by the UKSC today (27 July 2026) at midday.

The judgment of the UKSC clarifies the approach of the courts and the direction of juries by Crown Court judges as to the meaning of a statutory ingredient of the offence, namely that the act that caused death or serious physical harm “occurred in circumstances of the kind that D foresaw or ought to have foreseen“.

The full judgment of the UKSC can be found here.

Abdul Iqbal KC practises principally in serious crime (homicide, terrorism, serious fraud) and regulatory law (professional discipline and sports law).

Kitty Colley practices in serious crime specialising in homicide, serious fraud, drug and firearms offences and sexual offences.