Hickman & Rose client Auriol Grey’s conviction for manslaughter quashed at Court of Appeal

Hickman & Rose client Auriol Grey has seen her conviction for unlawful act manslaughter quashed after her new legal team, including founding partner Ben Rose, successfully challenged her conviction at the Court of Appeal.

In a case that has attracted significant media attention, Auriol – who is disabled, autistic and partially sighted – was sentenced to three years in prison for the manslaughter of cyclist Celia Ward. A subsequent attempt to challenge her sentence failed.

However, a change in legal representation led to Ben Rose, Adrian Darbishire KC, Chris Henley KC, Tom Doble and Brad Lewis representing Auriol in an appeal against her conviction on the basis that everyone previously involved in the case failed to address the key issue, so that ultimately the trial Judge misdirected the jury on unlawful act manslaughter: no base offence was identified.

There has been widespread media coverage of the Appeal Court’s ruling, including this article in the Sunday Times which quotes Ben Rose. More coverage is here and here. The full judgement is available here.