Patrick Harrington

Patrick John Harrington KC (born 1950) is a Welsh criminal law barrister and King's Counsel. He has acted in more than 250 homicide trials, He has been referred to as one of Wales' "most prominent" lawyers. and Harrington practiced from chambers in Cardiff for twenty years.

He was appointed as an Assistant Recorder in 1985 and made a Recorder in 1990. In 1993 he took silk, moving to chambers in London. After a "successful" first year in silk, he was invited to join the Chambers of Lord Williams of Mostyn QC at Farrar's Building.

Harrington is a keen follower of horse racing, previously owning a horse and competing in races with riders Richard Johnson, Jim Culloty, and Guy Lewis.

In 2013 he became the president of Ebbw Vale Male Voice Choir. Graham performed as part of The Kinks, as well as alongside Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield.

Farrar's Building Chambers released a statement on behalf of Susan Harrington in March 2020 reporting that Patrick was mobile and was able to speak, which the Chambers described as "positive progress".

Noted cases

R v Hughes - secured the conviction of Hughes at Chester Crown Court for the 1995 murder of seven-year-old Sophie Hook. Hughes was given three life sentences, which was re-evaluated by Home Secretary David Blunkett in November 2002 and set at a minimum of 50 years. R v Morris - prosecuted and achieved the conviction of Morris for the murders of 38-year-old Mandy Power, eighty-year-old Doris Dawson, ten-year-old Katie Power, and eight-year-old Emily Power. Known as the Clydach Killer, Morris was served by the judge with four life sentences. His case was quashed on appeal, but in 2006 Harrington was again instructed, and Morris was found guilty for a second time. Morris was one of only a few in the UK to be given a whole-life sentence, however, this was reduced to 32 years in prison in July 2007. R v Hampson - prosecuted Hampson for the murder of 26-year-old Geraldine Palk, whose body was found in a stream in Fairwater, Cardiff in December 1990. R v Ramshaw - Harrington successfully defended eighteen-year-old Ramshaw (also from Ebbw Vale) against the charge of causing death by dangerous driving (Section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988). Ramshaw had killed two sixteen-year-old girls, two fifteen-year-old girls, and injured one male, all of whom who were passengers in his car when it flipped at an approximate speed of to per hour. R v Griffiths - defended care home psychiatric nurse Griffiths against the charge of wilfully ill-treating or neglecting a person who lacked mental capacity, under Section 20 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Griffiths had ill-treated two elderly patients: pushing and shoving an 85-year-old man with senile dementia, and pulling an 81-year-old woman with senile dementia by her ankles. Griffiths was sentenced to 50 hours' unpaid work for each offence after the judge found Griffiths meant no harm. R v Richards and Hope - acting in the trial and retrial over a contract killing where the wrong target was murdered. Seventeen-year-old Siddiqi was killed, and his parents Parveen and Sheikh Iqbal were attacked, when 38-year-old Richards and 39-year-old Hope entered their home thinking they were being paid £1,000 to kill a man, who resided on a different street. Both were high on heroin at the time of the offence and were sentenced to minimum terms of 40 years in prison, which was increased from the guidelines by the judge due to the severity of the crimes. Siddiqi had been killed while he had been waiting for the "arrival of his Koran teacher". following a prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office of three solicitors. The verdict was described as "yet another humiliating episode for the SFO". Morgan sought to appeal his sentence in 2017 but this was rejected by Lady Justice Hallett, who said the sentence was "not manifestly excessive." Operation Bulkhead (2016) - prosecuted a £100 million film fraud case, involving four defendants and over 50,000 pages of served evidence. The judge at the trial described the case as "one of the most difficult and complicated cases presented at the Bar." Harrington secured a combined sentence for conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, with the four serving a minimum of 29 years.

Publications +BooksTitlePublisherYearThe Session ManBroom House Publishing Limited2004