Practice Profile
Sally is a senior criminal practitioner with a practice consisting predominantly of complex criminal matters. She is sought-after due to her substantial experience of difficult and serious sexual offence cases involving both contemporary and historic allegations and is excellent in dealing with defendants and witnesses with mental health issues and other vulnerabilities. Although sensitive to the needs of the vulnerable, she has been described as ‘highly skilled’ in her cross-examination of witnesses.
Due to the serious nature of Sally’s practice she is instructed to appear at Court Centres throughout the country and has extensive experience of homicide, rape and serious sexual allegations, fraud and money laundering, and large scale drug conspiracies. Sally is frequently instructed in difficult cases due to her consultative approach and knowledge of expert witnesses. She is able to advise at an early stage of the proceedings as to the suitability of a particular expert.
In addition to her criminal practice, Sally appears at adjudications and parole hearings within the prison system. She is also able to advise at an early stage as to judicial review of a refusal to grant parole.
Testimonials
Sally is a talented and brilliant barrister. She is fearless, firm, and persistent. She can reach the heart of the issue with excellent judgement, the correct pitch, and the power of true experience."
Strengths: "She is incredibly good with difficult clients and is very patient. A good advocate.""
Appointments & Memberships
• Member of Inner Temple
• Member of the South Eastern Circuit
• Member of the Criminal Bar Association
• Former Junior and current Committee Member of the Cambridge and Peterborough Bar Mess
• Grade 4 CPS Prosecutor, Rape and Serious Sexual Offences panel advocate
Notable Cases
R v F & Ors, Cambridge Crown Court
Successful defence of teenage defendant charged, along with three others, of murder. Led by Karim Khalil QC. ITV article.
R v Ghafoor, Luton Crown Court
rape and false imprsionment on behalf of the major crime unit. Defendant dragged victim into bushes and subjected to a prolonged attack.
R v Bromley, Reading Crown Court
Rape and indecent assualt of 4 year old child. Leading Junior for the prosecution. Defendant sentenced to a twenty five year term.
R v Gallucci and others, Cambridge Crown Court
Conspiracy to defraud, this was Cambridge Trading Standards biggest prosecution in terms of evidence gathering and value. Costs of £25,000 were recovered. Leading Junior. Prosecution
R v Canaj and Others Cambridge Crown Court
Defendant charged with rape, kidnap and running a brothel. The defendant was a Lithuanian national who, along with 4 others, was alleged to have kidnapped a Russian girl and raped her whilst forcing her to engage in prostitution. The complaint was blown out of the water by tracing a respectable business man through close examination of unused telephone records and using him as an anonymous witness. The Trial Judge later described this to the jury as “Miss Hobson pulling a rabbit out of the hat”
R v Victor Cox
A confiscation order with a period of five years in default of payment was reduced to four years in default of payment following the statutory default guidelines for the relevant amount as it was not correct to increase the default period to reflect the seriousness of the offence.
SENTENCING
[2008] EWCA Crim 3007 CA (Crim Div) (Thomas LJ, Pitchford J, Recorder of Brighton & Hove) 25/11/2008 References: LTL 25/11/2008 EXTEMPORE (Unreported elsewhere) Document No.: Case Law – AC9700610
MURDER
R v MELVIN TERRENCE SULLIVAN : R v MARTIN GODWIN GIBBS : R v BARRY ELENER : R v DEREK ELENER (2004)
When sentencing an offender for a minimum term under a mandatory life imprisonment for murder where the offence was committed after May 2002, the judge should refer to the May 2002 Practice Direction and the Criminal Justice Act 2003 Schs. 21 and 22 only, and not the Lord Chief Justice’s letter of December 2002.
SENTENCING – PENOLOGY AND CRIMINOLOGY
[2004] EWCA Crim 1762 CA (Crim Div) (Lord Woolf of Barnes LCJ, Judge LJ, Holland J, Astill J, Gross J) 8/7/2004 References: LTL 27/8/2004 : (2005) 1 Cr App R 3 : (2005) 1 Cr App R (S) 67 : Times, July 14, 2004 Document No.: Case Law – AC9100356 Miss Sally Hobson Junior for the Prosecution R v Sullivan