Joe Allman

Joe is an experienced and tenacious advocate, with a track record of excellence in dealing with cases of particular difficulty, whether because of the vulnerabilities of the witnesses, defendants or complainants involved, or the high level of complexity.

Joe is a Category 4 prosecutor and a member of the CPS Serious Crime Group, and Counter-Terrorism specialist advocate panels, and has a high level of expertise in all aspects of serious and complex crime, particularly where there is an international dimension. Joe has extensive experience of prosecuting organised crime and offences which involve the professional exploitation of human beings. In recent years Joe has prosecuted some of the largest “county lines” conspiracies in the region, including those involving the trafficking of young people, and large-scale drug supply conspiracies organised and directed by serving prisoners. Joe now regularly leads in such cases.

Joe served on behalf of HM Government as the Criminal Justice Advisor to the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Liaison Prosecutor in the United Arab Emirates, and was based in the British Embassy in Manama. He also worked with senior prosecutors and British missions in a number of other Middle-Eastern countries. He is often invited to participate in training overseas prosecutors, judges and law enforcement professionals. In recent years Joe has acted as a subject matter expert for the UN Office for Drugs and Crime, Office for Counter-Terrorism, on the subject of terrorist finance, in Ulaanbaatar, and on prosecuting serious crime, in Karachi and Hyderabad, Pakistan.

Within the field of counter-terrorism, Joe has extensive experience in dealing with offences involving extreme right-wing ideology, including offences under the Terrorism Act, and those involving the propagation of racial or religious hatred. Joe has prosecuted a number of offences linked to organised antisemitism and hostility towards Muslims. Joe has a strong working knowledge of the mindset and the modus operandi of the far right and is particularly familiar with the more subtle tropes of antisemitism. Joe has prosecuted youths under the Terrorism Acts as well as individuals with significant psychiatric and other mental health issues. Joe served as a mobilised reservist in an infantry role in Iraq and has a strong working knowledge of firearms, component parts and ammunition. He enjoys a high level of security clearance.

Joe is a member of the CPS Rape and Serious Sexual Offending advocate panel. Joe has devoted a significant part of his career to cases of this kind and has particular expertise in respect of historic sexual offending and sexual offences against vulnerable people. Joe is known for his sound advice on, and rigorous approach to third party and digitally stored material. Joe has prosecuted trials involving multiple-victim rape cases, and a case in which a victim of rape was murdered by her partner shortly after giving her ABE interview and before any proceedings had commenced against him. Joe enjoys a reputation for dealing sensitively and communicating in a manner appropriate to the needs of vulnerable victims, witnesses, and defendants. Joe makes time for this important interaction, whatever the demands of the case.

Joe has a growing defence practice and particularly welcomes instructions in cases involving vulnerable or mentally disordered defendants, and those who may have been the victims of trafficking. Joe recently persuaded the Crown through formal submissions, to offer no evidence in a case involving an individual holding views aligned to the “Freeman on the land” belief system. Joe also recently secured a key reduction in sentence in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division for an individual whose treatment amounted to exploitation short of the defence under Section 45, in a case where the court emphasised the need for adequate detail in sentencing remarks (Ardit Saffa [2021] EWCA Crim 661; [2021] 4 WLUK 440).

Joe is a pupil supervisor and recently supervised a senior officer in the Royal Navy during her time with chambers on her way to becoming a barrister in the Royal Naval Legal Service.