Adrian Davies

For the Welsh international rugby union player, see Adrian Davies (rugby player).
Adrian Davies
Born (1962-06-17) 17 June 1962
Nationality British
Alma mater
Occupation Barrister and former solicitor
Known for Former Conservative Monday Club official; ex-chairman of the Freedom Party
Political party British Democratic Party
Parent(s) Michael Davies and Maria Jozica Milos

Adrian Michael Davies (born 17 June 1962) is a barrister and a member of Lincoln's Inn, London. He was formerly a solicitor with the magic circle firm, Slaughter and May. He is the eldest son of the traditionalist Catholic writer, Michael Davies.

Education

Davies was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he took a first class honours degree in modern languages in 1985 and at the University of London where he took a LLM degree. Davies is fluent in French and Croatian.[1]

Legal career

After a year spent as a trainee at Ernst & Young, Davies qualified and practised litigation for six years as a solicitor at Slaughter and May. His specialist area was property litigation in which field he was known as a tenacious and enthusiastic litigator. Davies later retrained as a barrister and was called to the bar in 1998. He now practises at 3 Dr Johnson's Buildings.[1] His specialist areas include recoveries; real property, mortgages, landlord & tenant; wills, probate and trusts; civil actions against the Police, Customs & Excise et al.; and slander and libel.

He unsuccessfully represented the controversial British Holocaust denier David Irving at the Court of Appeal in 2001 after Irving had failed in a libel action against Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books. Irving had represented himself at the trial before Mr Justice Gray.[2]

In a landmark family law case in 2006 he successfully represented Mrs Lillian Day in a dispute with her son over the beneficial ownership of a family home.[3]

Perhaps Davies's best publicised client was the former Big Brother contestant Lisa Jeynes, who unsuccessfully sought up to £150,000 from the News of the World in 2007. Jeynes contended that an article in the newspaper in 2003 had implied she was a transsexual. Mr Justice Eady in the High Court in London ruled that no reasonable reader would have drawn that inference from the newspaper's words, and therefore threw out Ms Jeynes' case.[4]

Another of Davies's best known clients was the Pakistani-born Manchester businessman Shami Ahmed.[5]

In August 2007, Davies unsuccessfully represented two members of the British National Party in an appeal against a libel judgement given at first instance in favour of Searchlight magazine.[6] The court ruled that the so-called 'Reynolds defence' applied, which meant that Davies was prevented from arguing the claimants' case against the alleged defamation on the merits. Roberts v. Gable is regarded as a leading case on the reportage defence.[7]

During 2008 Davies successfully represented Shaun Brady, former general secretary of the rail union ASLEF, and Steven Trumm (a fellow union activist) in libel actions against Brady's successor as ASLEF leader Keith Norman.[8]

He represented Simon Sheppard, who was the first person in the UK to be convicted of inciting racial hatred on the internet, and in January 2010 succeeded in convincing the Court of Appeal to reduce Sheppard's sentence.[9]

Brompton Road campaign

In 2009 Adrian Davies launched a campaign[10] to reopen Brompton Road station, on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground. Brompton Road closed in 1934. Davies operates a website[11] to promote the campaign, and has given several interviews on the issue including a BBC feature.[12]

Death of brother Owen Davies

The unexpected death from a coronary illness of one of his brothers, Owen, a patent agent with Renault S.A., and its bizarre aftermath,[13] have led to complicated litigation in the Belgian and English courts,[14][15] with the Davies family contesting his will.

An attempt by Adrian Davies to launch parallel proceedings in Belgium without notifying the Belgian Court of English proceedings was blocked by a landmark anti-suit injunction granted by Miss Sarah Asplin QC on 20 May 2011,[16] where she stated "Given that the present defendants had submitted to the hearing of that issue and allowed costs to be incurred, in my judgement such conduct is vexatious and oppressive".[17]

The judgement to the preliminary issue to determine the domicile of Owen Davies was handed down on 12 July 2011 by Mr Charles Hollander QC [18] and ruled against Adrian Davies and his associate Mark Simeon Jones (both barristers of 3 Doctor Johnson's Buildings, London). The Judge concluded that the evidence never came close to establishing a Belgian domicile of choice as alleged by the so-called Family Defendants and determined that "Owen never lost his domicile of origin, and remained domiciled in England", and is further reported in the Stratford Herald on 14 July 2011.

A costs hearing for the domicile case was held on 12 September 2011, and Mr Davies and family was ordered by Mr Charles Hollander QC to pay interim costs of £50,000 with the final amount to be determined by a costs judge at a subsequent hearing.

On 18 November 2011 The Honourable Lord Justice Lewison (Kim Lewison) at The Court of Appeal refused permission to appeal on three counts for the anti-suit injunction granted on 20 May 2011, for the preliminary hearing granted on 12 July 2011, and for the stay of costs order of 12 September 2011 which was requested by Davies.

He and his family have since withdrawn their counterclaim against the will of Owen Davies. The final hearing to determine the secondary issue was heard by Mr Robert Ham QC on 10 July 2012, which was to prove the validity of the will in England & Wales. Judgement was handed down on 25 July 2012 where the Judge stated that "Putting at its lowest, much of the Family Defendants' case seems problematic", and determined that the will was valid. Davies was ordered to pay the costs of the claimant, with an interim payment of £60,000, and the final amount to be agreed.[19]

Despite losing on all counts over a four-year period at the Royal Courts of Justice in London against the Executor to his late brother's Estate, his legal campaign still continued in Belgium against the beneficiary, with a hearing held at the Ghent Court of First Instance on 13 November 2012. Judgement was handed down on 19 December 2012 with the Court ruling that it was not within their competence to rule on such issues. Grant of Probate was sealed at the Royal Courts of Justice in England on 10 October 2012 by the Executor, which did little to assist Davies with his Belgian campaign. When discussing another Anglo-Belgian case on the British Democracy Forum on 16 September 2011, Davies (who posts under the nom-de-plume "Advocatus Diaboli" on the forum) remarked "the Belgian courts will readily enforce English judgments, just as we enforce theirs". [20] Davies has been ordered to pay the costs in Belgium of his uncle, the beneficiary.

Politics

Davies was previously an executive council member of the Conservative Monday Club, a former executive committee member of Tory Action and secretary of the London Swinton Circle. In August 1983 he was prominent amongst those attending an infamous Swinton Circle meeting with Ivor Benson as speaker[21] which was held in Conservative Party headquarters.

Later he was also a co-founder of the Bloomsbury Forum with Jonathan Bowden. He addressed a fringe meeting of the Conservative Democratic Alliance at the Conservative Party Conference in October 2002.

Davies was chairman of the now-defunct Freedom Party (which is not connected to the British Freedom Party). He was the Freedom Party's sole candidate in the 2005 general election, contesting South Staffordshire which, owing to the death of a candidate, was postponed from 5 May to 23 June. His manifesto embraced, inter alia, opposition to immigration (using the slogan "Enoch Powell was right!"), the European Union and the euro and favoured a protectionist economic stance.[22] Davies polled 473 votes, 1.7% of all those cast.

On 23 May 2011, Davies and his associate Raymond "Ray" Heath (in the past a member of the National Party of the United Kingdom but then of the Vauxhall Conservative Association) registered another new political party with the Electoral Commission numbered PP 1765 and called the British Democratic Party.[23] The new party seemed to be dormant for a while, as confirmed by Davies himself on the British Democracy Forum where he regularly posts under the nom de plume "Advocatus Diaboli":[24] "I shan't be returning to the fray as chairman of any post-Gri££in nationalist party, been there, done that! Others will have to take up that mantle, though I am happy to offer advice and financial support if indeed a worthwhile new party, be that the BDP or another, eventually takes off."[25] However, the BDP by early 2013 was active with Andrew Brons as president.[26]

In 2014, Davies began associating himself with American racialist groups. In April that year, he spoke at an American Renaissance gathering in the United States,[27] and began writing for that group's website shortly thereafter.[28] After the Scottish independence referendum he was a featured guest on Richard B. Spencer's podcast, "Vanguard Radio".[29]

Elections contested

Date of election Constituency Party Votes %
2005 South Staffordshire Freedom Party 473 1.7[30]

References

  1. 1 2
  2. ↑ "Irving loses Holocaust denial appeal". The Guardian (London). 20 July 2001.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "BB Lisa's libel claim thrown out". BBC News. 25 April 2007.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Reynolds defence puts BNP in its place", The Lawyer, June 2006
  7. ↑ "Roberts & Anor v Gable & Ors", 12 July 2007
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "R v. Sheppard & Anor", 29 January 2010
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ Prest, Harriet (4 September 2009). "Resurrecting London's ghost stations". BBC News.
  13. ↑ Daily Mail 1 July 2011
  14. ↑ "Secret funeral claim goes to High Court", "Stratford Herald", 9 December 2010]
  15. ↑ Liverpool Wired
  16. ↑
  17. ↑ http://www.hardwicke.co.uk/news/jurisdiction-probate-and-anti-suit-relief/
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ http://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/services/morris_v_davies_and_4_others_2011_ewhc_1773ch.aspx
  20. ↑ http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=100332&page=2&p=1223749#post1223749
  21. ↑ Tribune magazine 28 October 1983
  22. ↑ Adrian Davies, election leaflets, 2005
  23. ↑
  24. ↑
  25. ↑ http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/bnp/94646-another-new-nationalist-party-2.html
  26. ↑ Collins, Matthew (8 February 2013). "Neo-Nazi former BNP members launch new far-right party". New Statesman. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  27. ↑
  28. ↑
  29. ↑ http://www.radixjournal.com/vanguard-radio/2014/9/20/britain-prevails
  30. ↑ "Result: Staffordshire South". BBC News. 23 May 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2007.

Publications

External links

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