On the 29th of January 2025, Head of Chambers Oliver Woolhouse, leading his Chambers’ colleague Amiee Parkes, concluded their involvement in what is believed to have been the longest ever criminal trial at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown Court, when the jury returned with their verdicts in Operation Utah.

Representing one of the defendants who was based in the West Midlands, and instructed by Owen Nash and Co in Walsall, Oliver and Amiee commenced the trial on the 7th of May 2024, meaning that the trial ran for almost 9 months. The case followed an investigation over 6 years and involved a total of 9 defendants, from all over the country. It was tried in Newcastle-upon-Tyne by virtue of the focus of events having taken place in the North East, the local base of one of the primary businesses which was said to have been behind the offending.

All defendants were charged with a large scale conspiracy to defraud pension investors involving funds in excess of £5 million and was said to have centred around a complex pension liberation scheme.

The case was of significant volume and complexity, involving extensive legal arguments on principles of common law conspiracy; admissibility of multiple forms of evidence; character evidence; severance; fitness to be tried; and hearsay.

There were thousands of pages of documentation in addition to complex financial material which sought to follow funds moved between multiple accounts. Multiple witnesses gave evidence from different jurisdictions via live link; and perhaps the most unusual feature of the case was that Oliver and Amiee’s client’s physical health meant that for the entirety of the trial, he was present and participating in it only via live link  – making this one of the first cases of its kind (and certainly of such length) where a defendant has been tried entirely remotely in that way.

After 20 days of deliberations, the jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts in relation to the conspiracy to defraud.