Craig specialises in Criminal Law, Regulatory Law, Inquests and Inquiries.

Ranked in Tier 1 for Business and Regulatory Crime (including Health and Safety) and Inquests & Inquiries – Legal 500 (2024) 

Ranked as a Band 2  Silk for Health & Safety – Chambers & Partners (2024) – 3 years ranked

Ranked as a Band 2 Silk for Inquests & Public Inquiries – Chambers & Partners (2024)

“Craig is a fearless and technically brilliant advocate. He is a pleasure to work with and to watch.” Legal 500 (2024)

“Craig has a commanding courtroom presence. He cross-examines with measured – and devastatingly effective – calm. His jury speeches are hugely persuasive.” – The Legal 500 (2024)

“Craig is excellent and can cut through any complex case to the heart of the issues. He gives clients confidence and handles sensitive issues extremely well.” Chambers & Partners (2024)

“The consummate professional – calm under pressure with the ability to think quickly on his feet.” – The Legal 500 (2021)

Over the last twenty years, Craig’s criminal practice has covered a vast range of work: from road traffic offending through sexual offences, serious and organised crime, violence including homicide, fraud and complex regulatory offences.

In silk, his practice has been split between murder, manslaughter, serious fraud, regulatory crime and associated inquests and inquiries. He sits as a Recorder in the Crown Court and as a fee-paid judge in the Mental Health Tribunal, and has significant experience of dealing with cases involving mental disorder, experienced by defendants or witnesses. Craig has a particular interest in cases involving defences arising from mental disorder.

Craig has become well-known for his ability to prosecute and defend in highly complex cases. His depth and breadth of experience of cases involving a wide range of prosecuting authorities enables him to bring a unique perspective to cases that transcend more than one area. He has been involved in many large cases with multiple defendants and has often handled sensitive issues of disclosure and public-interest immunity, including covert human intelligence sources, intercept material and offenders with links to terrorism.

Craig has extensive experience in all areas of financial offending, including applications for restraint, confiscation, compensation, appointment of receivers and disqualification of directors. Many of his cases have involved corporate defendants and the interpretation of corporate accounts. Since taking silk he has appeared in several trials of corporate and gross negligence manslaughter allegations, relying on his wide-ranging experience in regulatory crime and in particular health and safety and food safety.

Craig’s regulatory practice regularly includes health and safety, environmental, food safety, healthcare, product liability, trading standards and fire safety work. He is regularly instructed to represent interested parties in associated inquests. Craig is currently representing the Health and Safety Executive in the inquests into the deaths of four miners in the Gleision Colliery Disaster. In the Manchester Arena Inquiry he represented the Manchester Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and successfully challenged criticisms of the care provided to the victims of the bombing. No criticism was made of Craig’s client in the final report of the inquiry.

Craig’s sympathetic approach towards clients has repeatedly been identified by legal directories. He can be relied upon to deal sensitively with clients accused of the most serious offences.

Alongside his advocacy and advisory work, Craig is the North Eastern Circuit’s Advocacy Training Officer. He is an accredited advocacy trainer and a facilitator for the Inns of Court College of Advocacy training courses: Advocacy and the Vulnerable and Advocacy for Children in Conflict with the Law.

Recent and Notable Cases

Homicide & Serious Violence

• Op Poplincard – ongoing prosecution of a 14-year-old for the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy.
• Op Pedalbourne – ongoing prosecution of four teenage defendants for the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old at a house party.
• D.H.Willis & Sons Ltd and Others – 2022 corporate and gross negligence manslaughter prosecution together with associated health and safety offences.
• R v Ali & Matthews – 2022 successful murder prosecution. Both defendants were convicted notwithstanding that it was impossible to prove which of them drove the car deliberately into the deceased.
• R v Barrott – 2022 successful prosecution of the husband of a nurse for her murder. Partial defence of diminished responsibility based on long-standing serious mental health issues rejected by the jury.
• R v Jones & Recycle Cymru Ltd – 2022 gross negligence manslaughter and associated regulatory offences.
• Op Thememike – 2022 murder prosecution arising from the fatal shooting of a local solicitor in Sheffield City Centre.
• R v Cookson & Eaton – 2021 prosecution of two teenagers for murder, arising from the “cuckooing” of the deceased in the context of the defendants’ drug supply enterprise [2023] EWCA Crim 10 – setting of minimum terms and credit for time served on remand.
• R v Patrick Clayton Snr. – Craig’s first defence murder trial in silk. Client acquitted of all charges.
• R v Zaman (Operation Hoe) – prosecution junior counsel in the first successful prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter arising from a food allergy, and its subsequent successful defence in the Court of Appeal [2018] 1 Cr. App. R. (S.) 26.
• R v H – defence of a father accused of failing to protect his child, contrary to section 5(1)(a) of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Significant factual findings had been made against the client in family proceedings and the child had been removed from his care. After Craig’s consideration of the expert paediatric neurology evidence and negotiation with the Crown, no evidence was offered against Craig’s client.

Health & Safety: Industrial, Agricultural and Construction

• HSE v IM Ltd – defence of a metal recycling company following partial amputation of employee’s hand.
• HSE v TT Ltd – defence of a manufacturing company following asphyxiation of two employees by argon gas.
• HSE -v- JM Nixon & Sons Ltd – ongoing prosecution of a farming partnership for safety failings which led to a grandmother being fatally injured by a cow on an enclosed public bridleway.
• D.H.Willis & Sons Ltd and Others – 2022 corporate and gross negligence manslaughter prosecution together with associated regulatory offences.
• HSE -v- Nestlé UK Ltd – Prosecution arising from significant injuries to an employee on the After Eights line at Nestlé’s Halifax plant [2022] 2 Cr. App. R. (S) 1.
• HSE –v- P – Representation at inquest and in criminal proceedings of a self-employed farm worker following the death of a landowner killed by a shard of barbed wire expelled from the defendant’s tractor-mounted flail mower. District Judge persuaded to retain jurisdiction despite the fatality.
• HSE -v- UE. Defence of a landowner following a fatal accident on his sporting estate. An off-road all-terrain vehicle overturned, killing an employee who was collecting birds during a shoot. Magistrates persuaded to retain jurisdiction despite the fatality and the very considerable assets of the estate.

Health & Safety: Other

• HSE -v- Lightwater Valley Attractions Ltd – Prosecution of the well-known Yorkshire theme park after a child was ejected from a rollercoaster and suffered life-threatening head injuries.

Healthcare

• CQC -v- Dimensions UK Ltd – successful defence of regional domiciliary and residential care company. The proceedings encompassed two judicial review claims (one each by prosecution and defence) and concluded with a successful application to stay the charges as an abuse of the process of the court. The prosecution failed to obtain permission to bring a claim in judicial review against the District Judge’s stay of the proceedings. The Care Quality Commission was subsequently ordered to pay Craig’s client the entire costs of defending the criminal proceedings.
• Re NS – representation of domiciliary care company at inquest into a service user’s death. The Coroner made no findings against the company, despite criticisms from other interested persons and excluded the client from the prevention of future deaths report.
• Re LH – representation of domiciliary care company at inquest into a service user’s death. Complex neurology and endocrinology evidence. The Coroner was persuaded to reject the findings of the pathologist and made exculpatory remarks in relation to the client, despite strident criticisms made by the deceased’s family.

Food

• R -v- Mohammed Khalique Zaman – Prosecution junior counsel in the first successful prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter arising from a food allergy, and its subsequent successful defence in the Court of Appeal [2018] 1 Cr. App. R. (S.) 26.
• East Riding Council –v- Dixfield LLP – Prosecution of food safety offences following a child suffering a significant anaphylactic reaction at a wedding reception.
• York City Council -v- The Indian Garden Ltd – Prosecution of food safety offences arising out of inadequate allergen controls.
• York City Council -v- North Yorkshire County Council – prosecution of one local authority by another, arising from inadequate allergen controls at a primary school. The 4-year-old victim was hospitalised by a school meal.

Environmental

• AG of Jersey v JLB & Another – together with Simon Clegg, Craig advised the AG of Jersey in relation to the prosecution of a member of the States Assembly for water pollution.
• EA v ST – successful defence of a director in a consent/connivance/neglect prosecution by the EA. The defendant’s business had been taken over by known waste criminals not prosecuted by the EA.
• EA v BH – prosecution of illegal burning of waste which led to the destruction of the defendant’s own business and neighbouring properties.
• EA v WP – successful defence of a director in a prosecution based on the consent, connivance and neglect provisions of the EPA1990. The case was discontinued in the face of an abuse of process application.
• EA v AWSM & Metcalfe – prosecution of a former young farmer of the year for waste management and water pollution offences, leading to significant fish kills.
• EA v PTSD Ltd & G – defence of a demolition company and its sole director for waste offences. The agency was persuaded to drop the case against the director and the company was ordered to pay an insignificant fine.

Fraud

• R v K & P (Operation Coconut) – ongoing multi-million tax fraud prosecution. Multiple types of tax evaded.
• R v N – 2023 successful defence of a fraud prosecution arising out of a historical partnership dispute. The prosecution offered no evidence in response to Craig’s application for a stay on the basis of abuse of process.
• R v Ishaq (Operation Earthworm) – Prosecution of a former mayor of Scunthorpe for fraud and perverting the course of justice. Confiscation proceedings are ongoing.

Sexual Offences

• R v M – successful defence of a gay man charged with the sexual assault of a man who was alleged to have been asleep. The defendant had a previous conviction for a similar assault against another unconscious male. Acquitted at trial.
• R v JH – successful defence of a stepfather charged with the attempted rape of his seven-year-old stepdaughter. Craig challenged the disclosure process and identified items that could be shown to be in the possession of the police, the existence of which had not been disclosed. Following legal argument, no evidence was offered.
• R v BR – successful defence of a former police officer with previous convictions for indecent assault. The client was charged with sexual offences against two young female family members. Charges relating to one complainant were stayed as an abuse of the process of the Court following Craig’s application based on disclosure failures. The client was acquitted of all other charges at trial.

Miscellaneous

• R v Yasutake, Yasutake and Yasutake – an utterly unique case. Craig represented all three defendants charged with preventing the burial of a body. The prosecution accepted that each defendant was not guilty by reason of insanity but proposed to continue with a trial of issue, notwithstanding that each defendant believed that the deceased was still alive, and therefore that there was no body to bury. In response to Craig’s application for a stay on the basis of abuse of process, the prosecution was discontinued. Craig went on to represent the family, pro bono, at the inquest into the death and secured an open conclusion that the cause of death was unascertained.
• R v DD – defence of a juror, prosecuted for contempt of Court who contacted a convicted defendant and disclosed the content of jury deliberations. Craig appeared before the Lord Chief Justice, prosecuted by the Solicitor General. His client received a suspended sentence and on the basis of his submissions the LCJ directed a national review by HM Courts Service into the information routinely provided to jurors.

 Craig Hassall KC is an employee of Craig Hassall Ltd