R v Nugent

Facts

Bhandal Law, a firm of criminal defence solicitors, represented Callum Nugent in the Crown Court at Nottingham on one count of supplying Class A drugs. On 26 March 2025 police searched a cottage in Calverton, found a bag of cocaine bearing the defendant's fingerprint and seized several mobile phones. The defendant was arrested on 13 May 2025 at Birmingham City Airport. The prosecution case turned largely on mobile phone analysis, and the Crown relied on specific categories of phone evidence, including calls, messages and browser history. The trial was listed for 3 November 2025. On 6 November the Crown offered no evidence and a not guilty verdict was recorded. The prosecution had served two telephone download reports: MJC1, of 360 pages, and KBC-JAG1, of 31,950 pages. The firm claimed payment under the Litigators' Graduated Fee Scheme in Schedule 2 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 on a Pages of Prosecution Evidence (PPE) count of 10,000, the cap. The Legal Aid Agency's Determining Officer allowed 4,227 pages. From the download reports, these covered chats, instant messages, contacts, the call log and searched items, all of which the prosecution's opening note had referred to. On redetermination under regulation 28 of the 2013 Regulations, the Determining Officer refused to include the Application Usage Log. The firm appealed to a Costs Judge under regulation 29 of the 2013 Regulations, arguing that the whole of KBC-JAG1 should count as PPE.