Zarah Dickinson is a criminal specialist with a practice covering a wide spectrum of offences. She prosecutes and defends serious and complex cases, frequently involving allegations of sexual abuse. She is a Specialist Rape Prosecutor (CPS) and Grade 3 Prosecutor (CPS) and regularly provides pre-charge advices for the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit (CPS).
Zarah is experienced in confiscation matters and regularly prosecutes on behalf of a number of local authorities. Local authority work includes benefit fraud, counterfeit goods offences, and offences under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990. She also advises local authorities on judicial review. She prosecutes on behalf of the National Probation Service.
She has appellate experience and provides second-opinion advice in appeals against conviction and sentence.
“Thank you very much for all you have done in relation to the case of Fardaush. I was extremely impressed with your handling of the appeal.” —William Martyn, Crown Prosecution Service
Zarah has developed a specialism in driving matters, ranging from driving with excess alcohol to death by dangerous driving cases, and so has experience in advising on expert evidence and inquiries.
Approach
Known for her excellent client care, exact advice and robust advocacy, Zarah also works well as part of a team of counsel and has been lead in both prosecution and defence cases.
International experience
Zarah was Crown Counsel with the Attorney General’s Chambers in the Cayman Islands in 2008.
In 2006, she was a Pegasus Scholar in Washington DC. She worked with Steptoe and Johnson in a 7-week bribery and fraud trial (USA v Jemal). She also gained experience at the District Attorney’s Office and assisted the prosecution in a murder trial at the circuit court.
“I have to say that I thought she was very good indeed. She had read everything carefully beforehand and was very pleasant to deal with and totally on the ball. Perhaps most importantly, she did an excellent plea in mitigation which encapsulated all the relevant points very succinctly. She had a very good approach with the bench and I was extremely grateful that she was there! I would thoroughly recommend her – indeed, I told her directly what an excellent job I thought she had done.” — Lay client
Notable cases
- R v Petrou – Prosecution junior counsel in a serious and complex historical sex case involving four complainants
- R v Uddin & Others – Defence junior counsel in a highly complex multi-defendant murder / causing the death of a vulnerable adult at St Albans Crown Court
- R v Smith & Others (2008) – Prosecution junior counsel in a s.18 grievous bodily harm trial involving 9 youth defendants at Blackfriars Crown Court.
- R v Ton Leo & Others (2007) – Junior counsel for one of the 14 defendants in a £4million car-ringing conspiracy. Judge Forster described the scale of the conspiracy as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘only the tip of the iceberg’.
- R v GG (House of Lords) (2007-2008) (Operation Holbein) – Involved in the preparation of the defence for one of the individual defendants in a £2 billion pharmaceutical fraud.
- R v W (2014) — Successfully defended the widely publicised attempted murder of a police officer (reduced to attempt s.18), multi-count indictment with a vulnerable client who was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Contact Zarah’s clerks
Andrew Thornton on 0113 213 5202
Rebecca Wilson on 0113 213 5203
Hannah Dempsey on 0113 213 5211