Matthew Ralston

Matthew Ralston

YEAR OF CALL 2021

Education

LLB Law – First (Highest Ranked Student Overall), 2015 – 2019
BPTC – Outstanding, 2021
Master of Laws in Bar Practice – Distinction, 2021

Appointments

CPS Advocate Panel (Level 2)

Memberships

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
The Criminal Bar Association

Scholarships & Prizes

Knights of the Round Table Pupillage Scholarship, 2021
The University of Law Employment Prize (Highest Ranked Student Overall), 2020
Steele Raymond Award, 2019
Oxford University Press Prize, 2019

Overview

Matthew is instructed for both the prosecution and defence, predominantly in the Crown Court, and has acted in cases including conspiracy to commit fraud, assault by penetration, s.18 GBH and witness intimidation. He has been commended by Judges on his excellence in preparation and presentation of cases and is often instructed in cases well above his level of call.

His current defence instructions in the Crown Court include allegations of kidnapping, armed robbery, s.18 GBH and drug trafficking offences.

Prior to joining Foundry Chambers, Matthew worked as legal assistant to King’s Counsel specialising in criminal defence. He assisted in a range of serious criminal cases in the Crown Court and Court of Appeal including offences of murder, attempted murder, rape and drug importation. Matthew has also assisted with the drafting of applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Court of Appeal.

Matthew read law at university where he received several academic honours, including the Steele Raymond Award for best overall mark in the Law cohort and the Departmental prize for excellence.

Notable Cases

R v DP (Reading Crown Court, 2024): Acted for young man acquitted of offences of strangulation and controlling and coercive behaviour. The prosecution alleged that DP engaged in a campaign of abuse over a 3-year period against his partner. They relied on an audio recording said to capture the strangulation incident and injury photographs showing marks on the complainant’s neck. At the close of the Crown’s case, Matthew made a successful submission of no case to answer on the strangulation count. Following trial, the defendant was acquitted of the remaining controlling and coercive control count.

R v CW (Inner London Crown Court, 2024): Acted for a mother accused of assaulting the police who were arresting her son. The incident was captured on bodyworn video and resulted in the Defendant being PAVA sprayed. Following a three-day trial, the Defendant was acquitted.

R v OF (Kingston Crown Court, 2024): Acted for a young man acquitted of offences including assault by penetration, strangulation and serious domestic violence. OF was also acquitted of alleged assaults against his 15-month-old child following trial.

R v RB (Central Criminal Court, 2024): Acted for a young woman charged with offences of serious violence against an elderly complainant causing partial blindness. RB had convictions for assaulting one of the complainants previously which was admitted into evidence. After a week-long trial and careful cross examination asserting self-defence, RB was acquitted.

R v KC (Luton Crown Court, 2024): Acted for a defendant charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs. The defendant was arrested following a search of his home address in which a significant quantity of drugs, digital scales, money and several mobile phones were found. Over 30,000 pages of evidence was disclosed by the Crown suggesting attribution of the phone to KC. Of note was that KC had previous convictions for the same offences which were admitted into evidence. Following a 3-day trial and cross examination of the Crown’s drugs expert, the defendant was acquitted of all counts.

R v SM (Harrow Crown Court, 2023): Acted for a French Rapper who faced charges of coercive control and serious domestic violence. The defendant had previous convictions abroad for similar offending, including false imprisonment and kidnap. After a two-week trial, the defendant was acquitted of the most serious violence counts, including strangulation.

R v W (Aldershot Magistrates’ Court, 2022): Represented W, an ex-SAS Soldier charged with harassment and stalking. The evidence totalled over 4,300 text messages between the parties. A successful submission of no case to answer was made following the cross examination of the Complainant, resulting in the acquittal of the defendant.

R v R (Aldershot Magistrates’ Court, 2022): Acted for a defendant charged with breach of a restraining order against his estranged wife. There was a court-documented history of domestic abuse between the parties spanning 20 years and resulting in multiple convictions against the Defendant. Following trial, the defendant was acquitted.

R v N (Stratford Magistrates’ Court, 2022): Represented N who was charged with three counts of assaulting an emergency worker. All offences were captured on various officers’ body worn video cameras and five officers were called as witnesses for the Prosecution. Following trial, and raising the defence of self-defence, the defendant was acquitted of all counts.

Matthew has considerable experience of cases involving youth or vulnerable defendants. Some of his recent work includes:

R v HB (Inner London Crown Court, 2024) – Secured a Youth Rehabilitation Order for a youth being sentenced for 20 offences of robbery and armed robbery. Co-defendants received sentences of up to 7 years in custody.

R v KA (Woolwich Crown Court, 2024) – Represented KA who committed multiple class A drug trafficking offences, possession of criminal property, aggravated vehicle taking and handling stolen goods all whilst aged 17. During the course of proceedings, KA pleaded guilty but was now to be sentenced as an adult. For his offending, KA received a 19-month suspended sentence, seeing his immediate release from custody.

R v II (Southwark Crown Court, 2023) – Represented a homeless defendant with severe mental health problems accused of threatening members of the public with a knife. The defendant was acquitted in under 30 minutes.

R v RH (Kingston Crown Court, 2023) – Represented the only defendant to avoid custody in large-scale drugs conspiracy sentence. RH received a Youth Rehabilitation Order for their involvement in dealing kilograms of cocaine. RH’s co-defendants received immediate custodial sentences of between 10 – 20 years.

R v NM (Slough Youth Court, 2023) – Represented a young boy charged with his involvement in a County Drug Line Operation. It was alleged that NM was a member of the OCG group operating in the London area. NM relied upon the s45 defence under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 as a victim of trafficking. After a two-day trial in the youth court and calling of an expert in the field, NM was acquitted of all charges. He had pleaded guilty to simple possession of class A drugs at an earlier stage in the proceedings, for which he received an absolute discharge.

R v CR (Oxford Crown Court, 2024): Instructed to prosecute a defendant accused of possession with intent to supply class A drugs. The issue for the jury was one of modern slavery. During the course of trial, following cross examination, the Defendant pleaded guilty to all counts on the indictment.

R v OB and others (Winchester Crown Court, 2024) – Prosecuted three defendants for their involvement in a street brawl resulting in Affray and s18 GBH charges. The victim suffered a shattered jaw as a result of the attack and was subsequently deprived of his standing job offer to join the Royal Air Force owing to his injuries and failing his medical examination. After trial, all defendants were convicted of each count they were charged with on the indictment. Compensation in excess of £4,000 was awarded.

R v KB (Isleworth Crown Court, 2024) – Instructed on behalf of the National Crime Agency to prosecute a defendant accused of smuggling £1m worth of cocaine into the UK through Heathrow Airport.

R v NS (Isleworth Crown Court, 2024) – Instructed to prosecute a defendant accused of stalking. It was alleged that he threatened to pour acid over the face of his ex-partner, put flaming letters through her post-box, as well as turning up at her work address and making threats. The Defendant was convicted following trial.

R v FN (Woolwich Crown Court, 2023) – Instructed to prosecute a defendant charged with perpetrating a bomb hoax. Following the Defendant’s conviction, he received a 5½ year custodial sentence.

R v DT (Woolwich Crown Court, 2024) – The Defendant received a custodial sentence of 40 months for his offending supplying both class A and class B drugs over a three-year period, as well as possession of a firearm. The amount involved, in respect of the cannabis, was kilograms. DTs offending was aggravated by the fact that they were in breach of a Suspended Sentence Order for most of the indictment period. The Crown had suggested a starting point of 6½ years’ imprisonment for the first offence alone.

R v MG (Aylesbury CC, 2024) – Following submissions, the Judge declined to find MG dangerous, despite his previous 6 residential burglary convictions and their current offence which saw elderly victims threatened with a machete at their home address during the course of the burglary.

R v DR (Kingston Crown Court, 2023) – Secured an exceptional sentence of 14 days imprisonment for an offence of racially aggravated ABH whilst a serving prisoner. The Judge was persuaded to step outside of the guidelines in this rare scenario so as not to interfere with DR’s prison release date after spending the majority of their adult life in prison.

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