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Sara is a Director and founding member of Reece Thomas Watson. Sara was Head of Prison Law and Mental Health at an established London firm leaving to launch Reece Thomas Watson.

Sara specialises in Prison Law, Criminal Appeals and Public Law She has practiced in Prison law for around 11 years she acts for lifers, recalls EDS prisoners as well as IPP prisoners. Sara has a background in Mental Health Law due to her experience she has reputation for assisting those offenders who may have complex backgrounds and where there is a cross over between Mental Health Law and Prison Law.

Sara has practical experience in all aspects of representation in Prison Laws she focuses on Parole hearings and assisting those who need representation. She also focused on assisting those offenders who apply for a Tariff Reduction and has had several successful Tariff Reduction Review challenges in the High Court.

Sara is committed to social justice and dedicated to the provision of high-quality Legal Aid representation.

Sara is a committed advocate who is often described by her clients as fearless in parole hearings, she is committed to going above and beyond to achieve great results. Sara engages well with her clients due to her pleasant demeanour and pragmatic approach.

Sara has delivered professional training in Prison Law and Mental Health and is a member of the Association of Prison Lawyers (APL)

Notable Cases:

Green V Parole Board & Anor: A prisoner detained post-tariff on a sentence of imprisonment for public protection applied for judicial review of (1) a decision of the Parole Board not to recommend his transfer to open conditions as a prelude to release and (2) a decision of the Secretary of State for Justice that there should be 18 months until his next parole review.

The High Court upheld his challenges to both decisions and ordered that the Parole Board hold a fresh oral hearing to determine the claimant’s suitability for transfer to open conditions.

Colin Gill v Parole Board and Secretary of State for Justice Successful judicial review of a refusal to grant an oral hearing of an application for parole, for post tariff lifer

Acted for a number of offenders who have had their tariff successfully reduced in the High Court in light of light of the judgment of the House of Lords in R v The Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Smith [2005] UKHL 51.

Acted for a client in pre action proceedings seeking to quash HMP Long Latin’s cultural clothing policy on the basis Claimant has suffered indirect discrimination contrary to section 29 of the Equality Act 2010. The Claimant’s Article 14 ECHR right was also infringed. Successful Letter Before Claim which resulted in policy change.

Bio to come

Dean has practiced in prison law for around 15 years. He is often at the forefront of the main challenges protecting the rights of prisoners and viewed as someone who works tirelessly to expose injustice and a lawyer who does not shirk from representing those for whom antipathy is to be expected from the courts, or the general public. He conducts all manner of prison law hearings and tends to do a lot of work for those within the high secure estate and represents a number of prisoners within the Close Supervision Centre system. He works closely with JENGBA. Achieving release for prisoners who have no support for progression is one of Dean’s passions.

In 2020, he was named public law legal aid lawyer of the year, which recognised the fact he is often at the forefront of the challenging advancing prisoner rights.

He is trained in the main psychological risk assessments- HCR-20 (violence) psychological risk tool, RSVP (sexual) psychological risk tool and SAPROF (protective factors tool). Being one of a few lawyers trained in these tools he is able to better question the psychological evidence given in cases by Prison Service psychologists.

Dean also holds the following roles/positions:

• Committee n a member for the Association of Prison Lawyers (APL) since 2015. He is the Parole Board lead for the APL and as a result, sits on the Parole Board user group;

• Vice-chairman of Progressing Prisoners Maintaining Innocence (PPMI);

• Sits on the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) User Group;

• Councilmember for the Human Rights Charity Justice;

• Sits on the advisory panel for Inside Justice.

Notable Cases:

Wakenshaw v SSJ- They sought a declaration that the Ministry of Justice interfered with the independence of the Parole Board. The court granted this declaration;

He acted for John Radford (Mr. Worboys) in seeking to argue the decision of the Parole Board to release him was rational. He fearlessly spoke up at the High Court when it was clear Mr. Radford was unrepresented and every other party had Queen’s Counsel representing them;

Warner v SSJ- He sought a declaration that the Ministry of Justice interfered with the independence of the Criminal Cases Review Commission;

Hassett and Price v SSJ- He acted for a prisoner in the lead category A oral hearing case seeking increased access to oral hearings for category A prisoners;

Salvador v SSJ- He is seeking a declaration that the Parole Board Rules 2019 is ultra vires in that it prevents a prisoner from applying for a public parole hearing if the prisoner so wishes.

Acted for a transgender female whom resides in the female estate. SSJ indicated that despite having her gender recognition certificate and being legally female, they were going to put her back into the male estate. Dean indicated he would seek an injunction and they backed down. The client remains in the female estate;

He acted for an Irish prisoner arguing discrimination for failing to permit Irish prisoners a return to Ireland using the tariff expiry removal scheme or early release scheme. Every other foreign national is able to be removed under the schemes. This case remains on-going as they seek to have the issue heard by the Supreme Court;

He acted for Harry Roberts before the Parole Board and secured his release direct from closed conditions having served 48 years in prison;

Secured Not Guilty verdicts in a historic sexual conviction case whereby the Defence undertook significant investigations. They achieved not guilty verdicts and hung jury in the first trial before being acquitted of outstanding matters after a second trial within 30 minutes.

John was admitted as a solicitor in 2008 and has specialised in Prison Law throughout his career. John is based in our Stockton branch; however, he covers cases nationwide. He is an experienced and respected advocate, with a reputation for acting in a robust and forthright manner. John is most at home when appearing before the Parole Board and he is well known to Parole Board members throughout the country. John’s reputation has led to him acting for many high profile prisoners and he has considerable expertise in advising in cases of a sensitive and/or complex nature. John acted and secured for and secured release for John Massey who was Britain’s longest-serving prisoner. He is known to build excellent relationships with his clients.

John is well known amongst prison law practitioners having until recently been chair of the Association of Prison Lawyers (APL) for the last six years. He remains on the Executive Committee and acts as vice-chair. Along with his colleague and longstanding friend, Dean Kingham, John has delivered training events focusing on advocacy and on issues affecting prisoners in the high-security estate. John has also regularly represented the APL in meetings with the Parole Board and the Ministry of Justice.

John is from the North East and is particularly well known within prisons in that area. However, John’s practice is not confined to the North East and he works throughout the country and is also known to undertake work in Scotland for Scottish prisoners convicted in England and Wales who have had a cross border transfer.

John has worked extensively with many of the IPP campaign groups and he has acted for numerous IPP prisoners, the majority of whom have been released.

John is also committed to working for those who maintain their innocence and he regularly secures release or progress to open conditions for such prisoners. Indeed he has persuaded the Parole Board to recommend open conditions for a number of prisoners who were Cat A and those who remain in high-security conditions.

John has been instructed in cases in the High Court, the Supreme Court and European Court for Human Rights.

His broad practice includes:

• Parole and recall reviews;

• Category A reviews;

• Close Supervision Centre (CSC);

• Judicial Review; and

• All other prison law issues including; HDC, re-categorisation, licence conditions, sentence planning/calculation and adjudications.

Notable Cases:

Dickins v Parole Board for England and Wales [2021] EWHC 1166 (Admin) – the court concluded that the Board is functus after the decision is made and steps are taken to intimate it. 

R (Hassett and Price) v Secretary of State for Justice [2017] 1 WLR 4750 – a leading case on category A prisoner reviews. 

Hutchinson v (2015 ECtHR ) which was a case before the Grand Chamber in the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Whole Life Terms and Article 3. 

R (Richards) v Teesside Magistrates’ Court & Anor [2015] 2 WLR 1563 - the Court of Appeal considered the extent to which a Sexual Offences Prevention Order could include a positive obligation to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Justinas qualified as a Solicitor in September 2020. He joined Reece Thomas Watson in November 2017 and specialises in Prison Law and Criminal appeals. Justinas specialises in representing individuals in their Parole Board matters, he represents a variety of individuals such as lifers, IPP prisoners and standard recall prisoners. Justinas is a hardworking, enthusiastic, approachable person. He is willing to go the extra mile to achieve the right result regardless of the matter. He is passionate about working in the legal industry and ensuring that his clients receive the right result.

He has achieved great results for many IPP’s and Lifers whereby the panel have directed their release straight from closed conditions. Justinas is passionate about assisting those IPP’s who are still stuck in the prison system.

Justinas is a willing learner; he is an understanding individual who is willing to put in extra effort to help people.  Justinas feels very strongly about helping people particularly those who are vulnerable. Justinas firmly believes people should not be judged regardless of their background.

Justinas graduated from Brunel University, with a LLB Law Degree. He has been awarded a Master of Laws in Professional Legal Practice. During his time at university, Justinas was an active member of the Pro-Bono centre. Furthermore, Justinas has previous mental health law experience, assisting a variety of clients with diverse needs. Justinas’ friendly nature helps him to adhere to different client’s needs.

Outside of work, Justinas is a keen gym goer. Justinas also participates in sports; he is an avid basketball and football player.

Bio to come

Anna has been practicing prison law since 2008, and regularly represents indeterminate sentenced prisoners before the Parole Board. She prides herself on being approachable and client-focussed, and she has particular experience of representing elderly, disabled and otherwise vulnerable offenders. 

Anna lives and works in Warwickshire, and enjoys photography, singing with her choir and gardening.

Toni oversees the daily running of the London office she has been working as an administrator for the past 30 years, her past experience involves working at the Legal Aid Agency for 20 years and then moved on to work for medium-sized law first specialising in Prison Law , she is passionate about working for RTW and is a highly efficient member of the team.