BARRISTER JAILED FOR PLOTTING REVENGE ATTACK WITH CLIENT

Samreen Akhtar, a barrister from West Yorkshire, has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for plotting a revenge attack with her client. Akhtar, 38, of Sufton Street in Huddersfield, represented Tabish Ali, who was shot and injured on Blacker Road in Huddersfield on 14 September 2021. The day after the shooting, Akhtar was recorded on a telephone call to Ali proposing a plan to find the person responsible and cause them serious injuries, according to West Yorkshire Police. At Manchester Crown Court on Monday, she was convicted by majority jury verdict of encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence, namely inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, following a five-day trial in June.

Ali was part of a drugs gang and was later charged with murder. He was convicted in July 2022 of the murder of Jamal Nedd, who was shot and killed outside his Huddersfield home on 19 December 2020. Ali, of Clare Road in Cleckheaton, received a life sentence alongside two other men. Their trial established that Nedd's murder formed part of an escalating "turf war" between drug dealing gangs involving multiple violent firearms incidents. West Yorkshire Police stated that the attempted murder shooting of Ali in 2021 was believed to have been linked to this ongoing feud.

Detective Inspector Paul Hutchinson stated that Akhtar, as a professional working in the criminal justice system, would have been aware of her legal and moral responsibilities. "But she chose to act outside of those to plot revenge with a dangerous criminal involved in a violent gang feud," he said. Akhtar had denied the charge she faced before her conviction. The case drew attention to the conduct of legal professionals involved in criminal justice proceedings.