Dominic Connolly and John McNamara acted for the Crown in the successful prosecution of a group of soldiers who defrauded the Ministry of Defence (MOD) of nearly £1 million. The case, heard in a high-profile trial, involved a complex and sustained scheme to exploit the MOD’s internal payroll system.
The offences were committed by several employees based at the MOD’s administrative headquarters at Regents Park Barracks in Central London. Over an extended period, the defendants systematically abused their access to the payroll and accounting systems to submit entirely fictitious claims, including false expenses and subsistence payments.
The fraud was highly organised and relied on insider knowledge of the MOD's financial processes. The investigation revealed a pattern of fabricated entries that allowed large sums of public money to be siphoned off undetected.
The case has attracted national media attention, with detailed coverage in The Guardian, which can be read here.
Dominic Connolly is an experienced criminal practitioner whose practice principally concerns serious and large-scale organised crime. He is a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Grade 4 prosecutor and is on the CPS rape and serious sexual offences list. He is ranked in Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 as a leading individual in crime at the London Bar.
John McNamara specialises in all aspects of financial crime, proceeds of crime and related areas. John defends and prosecutes serious and complex criminal cases. He is experienced in managing and absorbing large numbers of documents and boiling down complex factual issues to jury friendly points. John places client care at the heart of his practice. He is recognised in the Legal 500 for POCA and Crime.
