Molly Pinkus

Career Overview

Molly obtained her LLB and LLM from the London School of Economics. She specialised at Masters Level in criminal procedure and criminology. Molly went on to practice in criminal law and has acted in the full range of criminal cases.

Molly is regularly instructed in substantial and serious criminal cases, including murder and manslaughter, gang related crime and county lines drug dealing. She has appeared as leading junior in cases including rape and internet grooming, modern slavery, conspiracy to supply firearms and manslaughter.

Molly is ranked in Legal 500 as a Leading Individual and is praised for her advocacy and client skills. She is also ranked in Chambers and Partners as an advocate who “clients love and solicitors seek out for tough cases.”

Molly is a fearless advocate and an expert cross examiner. She delivers extremely powerful closing speeches. Her knowledge of the criminal law is expansive and her legal arguments are persuasive. She is a popular advocate with clients and juries

Areas of Expertise

Molly’s practice is well-established in the Crown Courts. She also advises on appeals against conviction and sentence, as well as appearing in the Court of Appeal

Molly has considerable experience in representing defendants charged with murder and alleged gang related crime, including firearms offences. This includes violent offences and large-scale drug supply cases. Her preparation is extremely thorough and she is familiar with electronic and digital evidence. She is also meticulous in her examination of unused material. Molly is extremely approachable and is a popular choice with clients.

Many of the cases Molly undertakes involve multi-handed conspiracies, frequently with an international dimension. She is currently instructed as leading counsel in a modern slavery case, which involved a joint investigation between the UK and another international police force.

Molly is often instructed in cases involving new and evolving areas of law. She appeared in one of the very first rape cases involving the pre-recorded cross examination of the complainant, when the scheme was in its pilot stage. Molly has been praised for her handling of vulnerable witnesses and she trains others on the vulnerable witness training programme run by Middle Temple. Molly is familiar with the use of intermediaries in the criminal courts, both for witnesses and defendants. She has been successful in obtaining intermediaries for her vulnerable clients.

Molly has experience of representing Soldiers, UK Border Force officers and Police Officers who have faced criminal charges in the Crown Court. She has also represented a former senior police officer facing allegations of historic sex offences.

Molly accepts instructions in all areas of crime.

Notable Cases

R v B (concluded January 2019) – Central Criminal Court / Blackfriars Crown Court - Led by QC in Operation Padova. Represented a client charged with the murder of a drug dealer over a county lines telephone.: Operation Padova involved the fatal stabbing of a young man in a residential flat. The stabbing was witnessed by the two occupants of the flat, who were drug addicts whose flat had been ‘cuckooed’ by drug dealers. The defendant was alleged to have killed the victim over a ‘county lines’ telephone which was in his possession.

The case relied heavily upon cell site evidence.
R v M & Others (Sept/October 2017) – Central Criminal Crown Court - Led by QC for one of 3 defendants in Operation Neasden, a murder case involving a revenge execution of a drug dealer by shooting.: Operation Neasden was an investigation into the death of a victim, who was shot 7 times as he sat in the passenger seat of a stationary car. There was cell site evidence and forensic evidence from the ‘tracker’ in the vehicle in which the 3 defendants had been travelling and from which the gunman was alleged to have come. The case also involved the admissibility and weight of gun shot residue evidence.
R v F & Others (June 2017) – Central Criminal Court - Leading counsel in manslaughter and firearms case, all 3 defendants were acquitted.: Operation Mapledurwell was the investigation into the death of a young man who was shot in the stomach as he opened the front door of a residential flat. F was alleged to have orchestrated the visit to the victim with the intention to frighten him with a firearm. The visit was carried out by the 2 co-defendants and an absent male, who had fled abroad, one of whom fatally shot the victim. The shooting was alleged to have been gang related and based upon a drug debt.
R v T (December 2017) – Isleworth Crown Court - Represented client charged with attempted murder by stabbing complainant in the stomach - acquitted.: Defendant was followed into a shop by a group of males who subsequently attacked him with machetes and large knives. Defendant stabbed one of the attacking group with a hunting knife, causing very serious stomach injury requiring surgery. Defence of self-defence succerssfully advanced and defendant was acquitted of attempted murder.
R v C & Others (April – June 2018) – Snaresbrook Crown Court - Leading counsel for a defendant in Operation Shore, a large conspiracy to supply firearms. One of 2 defendants acquitted.: Operation Shore involved the importation and planned supply of a large number of firearms. The firearms and ammunition were brought from Lithuania across Europe and ended up in a top floor flat in East London which was the subject of a police raid. The case involved 3 trials, of which C was in the last, having been extradited. The case involved a large amount of electronic telephone data and cell site evidence.
R v R & Others (February / March 2019) – Norwich Crown Court - Represented one of 11 defendants in Operation Kimball, a large county lines drugs conspiracy.: Operation Kimball involved 11 defendants, 5 of whom pleaded guilty. R was one of 6 who stood trial. Case involved the supply on a massive scale of heroin and crack cocaine into Great Yarmouth from London over 1 15 month period. The county line was organized with the use of a telephone line which sent hundreds of messages to customers in Norfolk advertising the drugs for sale.
R v (April 2019) - Represented a young defendant who was charged with the distribution of indecent images of children.: The defendant was a schoolboy, aged 15-16 at the time of the alleged offences. The case involved extensive chatlogs between the defendant and others and the alleged exchange / distribution of IIOC. Defendant pleaded guilty to possession only of the images and received a community penalty.
R v T (July 2018) – Cambridge Crown Court - Sexual Offence - Represented a care worker charged with sexual assaults on an elderly resident in a care home and staff.: The Defendant was investigated after an elderly resident in a care home made disclosure that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by a member of staff. 2 staff members also made complaints of sexual assault by the member of staff. Defendant was acquitted on the counts relating to the resident following successful legal argument.
R v P (June 2018) – Lewes Crown Court - Vulnerable defendant, granted intermediary, charged with attempted rape of 9 year old second cousin when he was 16.: Defendant was 19 at the time of trial and suffered from educational and cognitive impairment. An application was therefore made and granted for an intermediary for the duration of the trial. When she was 13, the complainant made disclosure of attempted rape and sexual assault by her second cousin who had been 16 at the time. This was a sensitive case. The defendant’s mother was a prosecution witness.
R v C (November 2017) – Harrow Crown Court - Represented vulnerable defendant charged with rape of vulnerable complainant. Defendant acquitted.: Represented a defendant with severe educational difficulties who was granted an intermediary for the duration of his evidence. Complainant had to be questioned over video link from a ward in a secure psychiatric hospital. There was medical evidence on both sides in relation to the significance of extreme blood loss by the complainant. This was an extremely delicate case.
R v W (May / June 2017) – Snaresbrook Crown Court - Defendant charged with historic rape and sexual assault of a child.: The complainant, in his early 30s, alleged that he had been groomed and raped and sexually abused by the defendant when he was a child. The complainant was vulnerable and suffered from a mental health illness. There were also charges relating to possession of indecent images of children.
R v E (May 2017) – Snaresbrook Crown Court - Represented defendant charged with sexual activity with a child, who was his daughter, over 3 year period.: The defendant was charged with sexually abusing his daughter from the ages of 10 – 15. It was alleged that he would regularly abuse his daughter when she came to stay at his address, mainly at weekends. She had made the disclosure in her 20s and the allegations dated back to 2005. The complainant’s mother and brother were witnesses in the case.
R v E & Others (October – December 2019) – Kingston Crown Court - Represented one of only 2 defendants to be acquitted in a 5 handed money laundering trial.: Case concerned the siphoning of funds by D1, the defendant’s sister over a 4 year period, from her employers. D1 had used various family members to convert the stolen money by transferring the money through their bank accounts. The case involved the careful examination of banking evidence.
R v C (February – May 2018) – Wolverhampton Crown Court - Represented one of 14 defendants in Operation Henna, a conspiracy to defraud the DWP.: Represented the third of 14 defendants in this massive conspiracy to defraud the DWP. C’s husband had created thousands of forged documents which had been used to create false claims made against the DWP. Defendant allowed her bank accounts to be used to divert the proceeds of the fraud and operated an account in another name.
R v G – sole advocate in rape case involving vulnerable complainant: This was one of the first pilot cases to use s28 pre-recorded cross-examination. Defendant was acquitted, (2016).
R v B - Sexual Offence: Sole counsel in case involving historic sexual offences committed by former serving police officer against multiple family members, (2016).
R v S & Another - Sexual Offence: Sole advocate in stranger rape case involving 2 defendants. Defendant was acquitted, (2016).
R v J - Sexual Offence: Leading counsel in internet grooming case.
R v D - Manslaughter: Sole advocate in “one punch” manslaughter case.
R v S - Sexual Assault: Sole advocate in case of historic indecent assaults by a schoolteacher.
R v P and others - Fraud: Leading counsel in large credit card cloning fraud case.
R v M - Murder: Junior advocate led by QC in murder case involving issue of fitness to plead.
R v R: Sole advocate in lengthy section 18 wounding trial involving 8 young defendants.
R v A & Others - Drugs: Sole counsel in large drugs conspiracy case.
R v B – firearm case involving “exceptional circumstances”: Sentence successfully appealed.
R v A and others - Blackmail: Sole advocate in blackmail case.
R v M & Another - Sexual Assault: Junior counsel in grooming rape case involving 4 complainants