Peter Kyte QC

Call 1970 Silk 1996
MA (Cantab) in Law

Practice: Crime

Summary

Peter Kyte QC has been a leading criminal barrister since taking Silk 1996. His cases have covered the widest spectrum of offences. He prosecutes, but mainly defends and firmly believes that having experience of both sides provides advantages.

Exclusively engaged in criminal work. Fairly evenly divided, pre-silk, between prosecution and defence. Now, principally defence. For many years now, he has practised in the field of commercial crime, major drugs trials and a variety of homicide cases.

Reviews

Peter Kyte has been recommended as a Leading Silk in the field of fraud (criminal) in Chambers UK since its first publication.

Career Details

His experience has included mortgage frauds (e.g. R v Okosieme, R v Athey, R v Dearsley and others) as well as numerous other commercial fraud cases (e.g. R v Clamp, persistent theft of diamonds by a de Beers sorter; R v Mcrea, large scale fraud on the NHS by a dentist; R v Dass, corruption by an employee of Customs and Excise).

He defended in R v Lee, the first share ramping trial subsequent to new legislation designed to protect stock exchange investors.

He was also involved in a 16-month trial representing a Quantity Surveyor charged with a building fraud (R v Beard and others).

He has defended in major drugs trials, including Operations Julie and Donna (LSD manufacture) and R v Warburton (the first trial involving Michael Michael, the supergrass).

He has acted in many murder cases, both domestic and professional and those involving drugs and firearms. He has also acted in ‘honour killings’ (e.g. R v Adan, R v Bashir) and triad killings (R v Lau and others).

In addition to all the above, he has been involved in numerous other cases, covering a wide range of criminal practice: money laundering; arson; sex crimes (including historic assaults on children, e.g. v Burke); armed robberies (e.g. R v Hoines, a lorry hijacking case).

In 1997 & 1998, he was called to the Cayman Islands Bar to defend in two gangland murder trials.

Peter is a leading legal assessor /adviser and provides legal advice to many of the Fitness to Practise panels for example the Professional Conduct Committees.

Appointments

2008	Legal Assessor to the General Chiropractic Council
2002	Legal Assessor to the General Dental Council
2000	Legal Assessor to the General Medical Council
1989	Recorder

Additional Information

In the 1970s Peter worked as a Manager in the City and was a Stock and Commodity Broker for Merrill Lynch in London and New York.