Nigel Power KC

Year called: 1992

Year of Silk: 2010

Email Nigel Power KC

Area Of Expertise

Crime

  • Fraud
  • Murder & Manslaughter
  • Confiscation
  • Regulatory
  • Terrorism
  • Firearms
  • Appeals
  • Baby Shaking
  • Motoring
  • Drugs conspiracies
  • Sexual Offences
  • Cybercrime and Digital Currencies
  • Courts Martial

Family

Nigel has expertise in both Children and money cases.

Directories

‘Nigel is meticulously prepared and tactically astute. He always brings his A-game to the court and conference room, he is across all the detail in lengthy and voluminous trials, and he is rightly instructed on the major trials in the country.’

(Legal 500 2025) Ranked Tier 2 (Crime, Leading Silks)

 

Chambers and Partners 2024

Crime -Northern Bar Band 3

Knowledgeable across the full spectrum of serious crime, Nigel Power KC exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations. He regularly appears at trial and in appellate proceedings.

Strengths

“He is a powerhouse, relentless in pursuing his strategy and he leaves no stone unturned in his preparation of cases.”

 

“Nigel is a superb advocate, thoroughly prepared, knowledgeable and eloquent” (Legal 500 2023) Ranked Tier 2 (Crime, Leading Silks)

A superb advocate with a real attention to detail.’ Ranked: Tier 2
(Legal 500 2021) (Crime, Leading Silk)

“A superb advocate with a real attention to detail” (Legal 500 2020) Ranked Tier 2 (Crime, Leading Silks)

 

Chambers and Partners 2022

Crime -Northern Bar Band 3

Knowledgeable across the full spectrum of serious crime, Nigel Power QC exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations. He regularly appears at trial and in appellate proceedings.
Recent work: Defended a man accused of two arsons, one of which led to a fatality.

 

Chambers and Partners 2020

Crime – Northern Bar Band 3

Knowledgeable across he full spectrum of serious crime, Nigel Power QC exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations. He also acts in serious sexual offences cases.

Strengths: “An excellent and genuinely fearless advocate. He has a strong belief in his own judgement, allied with a remarkable capacity for hard work” “He is extremely pugnacious in his approach to defending prosecutions of all types, and is just as skilful in general crime as he is in complex fraud investigations. His client service and document preparation are at the highest level”

Recent work: Represented the lead defendant in the drug-based kidnapping, torture and murder of Joseph McKeever, whose body was found completely burnt in a car in Everton.

“A very hardworking silk” (Legal 500 2018) Ranked tier 1

“Knowledgeable across the full spectrum of serious crime, Nigel Power QC exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations.”

Strengths: “Nigel is an excellent trial QC and, due to his speedy analysis of evidence, he runs the trial effectively and controls the impact of the prosecution evidence well.” “He is extremely conscientious, prompt with his advice and a tireless force when it comes to preparation.”

Recent work: Successfully acted for a defendant charged with kidnapping, blackmail, assault and perverting the course of justice.

(Chambers 2018)

 

“Knowledgeable across the full spectrum of criminal law, Nigel Power QC exhibits notable strength in homicide cases, as well as large-scale fraud and criminal confiscations.”

Recent work: Successfully represented the defendant in R v Erskine against charges of murder, manslaughter and death by dangerous driving.

(Chambers 2017)

“Impressive technical ability” (Legal 500 2016)

“An experienced criminal advocate with a broad practice covering matters such as homicide, fraud and confiscations. He is noted for his niche expertise in cases concerning cybercrime and digital currencies.

Strengths: “He is an excellent barrister, he’s massively experienced and also thoroughly likeable, which is important to making client relationships work”

(Chambers and Partners 2016)

“Has an extensive practice covering all areas of serious crime. He is highly regarded for his expertise on complex and high-profile cases such as gangland murders” (Chambers and Partners 2014)

“Admired for his busy practice that covers all areas of serious crime. He is described as hard-working. His distinguished track record includes acting in gangland shootings, serious fraud and drug trafficking offences.” (Chambers and Partners 2013)

“Nigel Power QC excels in cases involving complex technical, medical or scientific evidence” (Legal 500 2013)

“Nigel Power QC experienced in cases involving complex DNA evidene’ (Legal 500 2014)

“Always brings a new dimension to any conversation about strategy in a complex case” (Legal 500 2015) Ranked: Tier 1

“Impressive technical ability” (Legal 500 2016) Ranked: Tier 1

Clerked By

John Kilgallon at John@7HS.co.uk

Rachel Kehoe at Rachel.Kehoe@7HS.co.uk

Caz Cregan at Caz.Cregan@7HS.co.uk

Or alternatively email Clerks@7HS.co.uk

Areas of Practice

Nigel Power KC is a specialist criminal and family barrister  In the 2016 Chambers and Partners Guide to the Bar, he was described in the following way: “He’s an excellent barrister; he’s massively experienced and also thoroughly likeable, which is important to making client relationships work.” Nigel is a member of the Bar of England and Wales but has been licensed to conduct a number of cases in the Isle of Man and has been called to the bar of Northern Ireland for bars for specific cases.

Nigel has recently represented the first of 11 defendants in the longest completed jury trial in history in Manchester, and also represented the first defendant in a 7-month VAT fraud trial at Southwark. In the summer of 2024 he successfully defended a Ian Scott, who was charged with murder and attempted murder, and also represented Shay Walker who was acquitted of murder and manslaughter, having admitted shooting a drug dealer at point-blank range (report here.) Most recently he secured a “time served” sentence for Shaun Kent at the Old Bailey; Mr Kent admitted to conspiring to possess guns and ammunition which were offered up to the NCA in the hope of securing a reduced sentence in a drugs case involving Thomas Kavanagh: report here.
 
In June 2023 Nigel prosecuted Connor Chapman for the murder of Elle Edwards on Christmas Eve 2022 (report here). His other current workload involves advising a number of clients, pre and post-charge in cases involving Encrochat evidence, and he has successfully resisted a number of applications for production orders made by the police investigating alleged fraud at Liverpool City Council. In January 2025 he is representing the first defendant in a pensions liberation fraud in Leeds.
 
Historically, in 2022 he represented two young defendants separately in murder trials and in 2021 he appeared for the first defendant, Kyle Sanders, in an eight-handed murder trial where the deceased was shot dead. Despite Mr Sanders being first named on the indictment and alleged to be the organiser of a robbery which led to the fatal shooting, Mr Sanders was acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter (report here). He prosecuted Christopher Guest More for the drug-related torture and murder of Brian Waters in 2003 (convicted after a retrial, report here) and represented a 17 year-old-defendant tried for s18 assault, murder and robbery in a cut-throat defence; he was acquitted of murder but convicted of s20 assault and manslaughter. Report here.
 
In 2020 he appeared in a number of murder trials and successfully resisted a prosecution appeal against a successful submission of no case in a murder trial in Preston (report here). In 2019 he secured the acquittal of Lee Blowes, who was alleged to have conspired to kill Blake Brown in a gangland execution (report here) and represented Lorraine Khan, who was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter. A criminal and family specialist, in 2018 he appeared in two high-profile murder trials in Liverpool and successfully prosecuted Darren McKie, an inspector in the Greater Manchester Police, for the murder of his wife, also a police officer (see here).
 
In family work, he appeared for the Maternal Grandmother who was exonerated entirely in the two-week “finding of fact” hearing in Medway CC v K and more recently he appeared for an Albanian mother in a finding of fact hearing involving allegations of modern slavery and forced prostitution.
 
He has been involved in many high-profile criminal cases, including having the case against his client dismissed in the “Millennium Dome Fraud” and representing the only defendant to be acquitted of conspiracy to defraud and fraudulent trading in the “Lord of Fraud” Boiler Room Fraud. He appeared in the trials of the racist killing of Anthony Walker in Huyton, the “Gangland” shooting of Michael Wright at the East Lancashire Road Retail Park and the murder of mother-of-three Lucy Hargreaves.
 
Nigel has appeared in terrorism cases and successfully appeared in the Court Martial for an Irish Guardsman charged with the manslaughter of an Iraqi Looter in Basra.
 
Nigel is well regarded for his work in confiscation cases where his IT skills can help to analyse and present the most complex financial evidence to his client’s advantage. He represented John Conroy in the confiscation proceedings of Operation Inertia, a large scale MTIC fraud involving contra-trading. The prosecution claimed that the benefit was £90m and that there were substantial hidden assets, but the eventual order was for benefit and assets of just £200,000. See the article about that case here. In late 2017 in the High Court in Belfast he successfully applied to vary a restraint order which allowed a business with a £50m per annum turnover to trade.

Notable/Recent Cases

More details about Nigel’s practice and his most recent and notable cases can be found at nigelpower.com.