If you have been convicted of an offence before the Crown Court, the route to challenge your conviction or sentence is to the Court of Appeal.

The test that the Court will apply is whether or not your conviction is "unsafe".

Regular grounds of appeal include:

• Fresh evidence that was not deployed at trial;
• Negligence of previous legal team;
• An error of law.

Rhys regularly provides a second opinion on conviction and is able to closely analyse tactical decisions and legal directions to establish whether the Crown Court fell into error.

It can be extremely important to seek a second opinion, even if your trial counsel and solicitors have informed you that there are no prospects.

Recently, Rhys was instructed to consider an appeal against conviction and was able to establish arguable grounds that the conviction was unsafe. The case is due to be heard by the full appeal court.

There are a variety of ways to appeal against the findings of the Magistrates Court or to re-open your conviction.

If you were convicted without any knowledge of the proceedings, it is possible to make a statutory declaration.

If the Magistrates made an error of law, you can apply to re-open proceedings in the interests of justice (Section 142 of the Magistrates Court Act).

Even if you were present and gave evidence, it is your automatic right to appeal to the Crown Court and to seek a total rehearing of your case.

Rhys is uniquely positioned to assist with the referral of cases to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). This is because Rhys previously worked with the CCRC whilst studying to be a barrister. Rhys also has substantial experience in judicially reviewing decisions made by the CCRC.

Rhys can assist with any of the following:

- Making a referral to the CCRC;

- Drafting of representations;

- Preparing bundles of supporting information;

- Drafting of pre-action correspondence with a view to judicially reviewing the CCRC;

- Conducting judicial reviews of CCRC decisions.