Under the Wig (eBook)

As London's leading murder case lawyer, William Clegg represented clients at some of the best-known criminal trials in English legal history. In all during 47 years as a leading advocate, he fought more than 100 murder cases, more than any other barrister currently practising in Britain. His cases ranged from serial killers to alleged Nazi war criminals to ordinary members of the public innocently caught up in police investigations. They include: the Wimbledon Common Murder of Rachel Nickell the Chillenden Murders (Dr Lin and Megan Russell) the Earprint Murder the Murder of Jill Dando Private Lee Clegg (Northern Ireland) the Murder of Joanna Yeates Nazi War Crimes in Britain Rebekah Brooks's Phone Hacking Trial and International War Crimes Tribunal (Yugoslavia) When Clegg represented paratrooper Lee Clegg in Belfast, his junior in the long-running appeal case was Keir Starmer, future leader of the Labour Party. A Queen's Counsel (now King's Counsel), Clegg capped his long-running career at the Bar as head of chambers at 2 Bedford Row in London. He is now retired and lives in Sussex.  

INTRODUCTION. An experienced murder case lawyer answers the question asked of criminal barristers in England: how can they represent 'murderers' and 'rapists'. Explains the different type of murder charge (homicide) such as acting in self-defence, diminished responsibility and mental incapacity
THE WIMBLEDON COMMON MURDER. Clegg takes a phone call from a solicitor: will he represent a man accused of killing Rachel Nickell on heathland in London in July 1992? Colin Stagg, a local man, looks similar to a witness description. Convinced of his guilt, detectives set up a honeytrap operation
PERRY MASON AND THE ART OF ADVOCACY. Growing up in a working-class home in Essex in 1960s England, Clegg loves the drama and showdowns of the American legal TV show Perry Mason and resolves to become a criminal barrister. He studies law at Bristol University and joins Gray's Inn, an inn of court
THE MURDER OF SAMANTHA BISSET. Samantha Bisset and her daughter Jazmine have been savagely stabbed at their one-bedroom flat in Plumstead, south London. When Clegg reads the case papers for the defence of Robert Napper, he has a good idea who killed them. Criminal profiler Paul Britton does not
RONNIE TROTT. After passing the Bar Finals, Clegg takes the final step for any law student intent on becoming a practising barrister: a pupillage. Clegg works for an idiosyncratic, chain-smoking, vegetarian lawyer. He learns to cover up to 10 cases a day in the magistrates courts around London
THE CHILLENDEN MURDERS. Sometimes a barrister feels he will win a case. When he acts for Michael Stone, Clegg feels the dice are loaded against him. Stone, a heroin addict, is arrested in 1997 and charged with the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell in Kent
LEARNING HOW TO FIGHT A CASE. During the 1970s and early 1980s Clegg regularly defends clients accused of robbery, burglary and assault. Occasionally he acts as a junior barrister in more serious cases. As his workload intensifies, he learns the secrets to running a successful defence in law courts
HELEN HODGSON. In the 1970s and 1980s defendants often retract 'confessions' after they have been charged. In 1985, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) tightens police rules. Clegg mounts an appeal for Cherie McGovern, convicted of murdering a woman in a grisly case involving communal living
MUTINY AT 3 HARE COURT. Inside barristers chambers in London a revolt brews against a hard-drinking head clerk. The leading chambers in the 1970s is 5 King's Bench Walk, 6 Kings Bench Walk, and Queen Elizabeth Buildings. A new set is established, headed by a personal injury silk, Michael Lewis QC
WAKING THE DEAD IN BELARUS. Clegg takes on the UK's first case under 1991 War Crimes Act and is introduced to a gentle 84-year-old from Surrey: Szymon Serafinowicz, who is accused of murdering Jews during World War II. Simon Wiesenthal Centre says he was 'Commander' of Belarussian police in Mir
HOW TO BECOME A QC. Becoming a Queen's Counsel is the pinnacle of achievement for a British barrister. A Queen's Counsel, or QC, is one of 'Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law'. It's an honorific rank (King's Counsel, when there is a king on the English throne). The process is mysterious
ANDRUSHA THE BASTARD. It is -30 degrees and Clegg's lips are so cold he can barely speak. He is in Belarus in the former Soviet Union, defending another former member of the wartime police accused of war crimes. Unlike his compatriot Szymon Serafinowicz, Anthony Sawoniuk is a harder man to defend
DEFENDING FRAUDSTERS. In his first serious fraud case, Clegg defends Wallace Duncan Smith, a banker in the City of London, who is accused of fraudulent trades – paying more than £50m for fictitious Canadian bonds while MD of Wallace Smith Trust Corporation. The Serious Fraud Office is on the other side
CONVICTED BY EARPRINT.