Key Facts
- •Appeal against the determining officer's calculation of advocate's graduated fee based on band 16.3 under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013.
- •Case involved multiple defendants charged with environmental offences related to illegal waste dumping at Bonnie Braes Farm.
- •The prosecution alleged a large-scale fraudulent scheme involving over £750,000 in payments.
- •The trial lasted 37 days in the Crown Court at Stoke-on-Trent.
- •The appeal concerned the appropriate banding for the advocate's fee under the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS).
- •The determining officer classified the offence under Band 16.3 ('All other offences'), while the appellant argued for Band 6.1 (Dishonesty, over £10m).
Legal Principles
Classification of offences under the AGFS Banding Document.
Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 and the AGFS Banding Document (version 1.2).
The 'true nature' of the offence should be considered when classifying offences for fee calculation.
R v Lahooty (2016), Environment Agency v Flanagan, Tones and Abraham (2014).
Comparison of offences on the indictment against the Table of Offences and, if no direct match, default to miscellaneous category.
Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013
Outcomes
The appeal was successful.
The Costs Judge found that the 'true nature' of the proceedings was a fraudulent endeavor, warranting a higher banding than 16.3. The scale of the fraud (over £10 million) met the threshold for Band 6.1.
The determining officer was directed to recalculate the graduated fee based on a 6.1 banding.
The judge disagreed with the determining officer's reliance on the 'catch-all' band 16.3, finding that the case was fundamentally about a fraudulent scheme despite the environmental context.