Catherine Donnelly

Practice Areas

Catherine Donnelly is an experienced criminal practitioner, ranked by both the Chambers & Partners UK Bar and Legal 500 Guides [London - tier 2]. She has established a substantial criminal practice prosecuting and defending at the highest level.

She is regularly instructed in complex, paper heavy criminal cases. She has particular expertise in homicide cases, large scale conspiracies, serious sexual offending, and drug importations. She regularly prosecutes cases where the defence is represented by King’s Counsel and has prosecuted allegations of murder for the CPS as sole counsel.

She is presently instructed to defend David Fuller having acted for him during his first trial. David Fuller received two whole life tariffs for historic murders committed in Tunbridge Wells. He also received 12 years for mortuary offences, having recorded himself abusing the bodies of more than 100 female corpses, over the course of his employment as an electrician at Hospitals in Tunbridge Wells.

She specialises in the most serious sexual offences “She is an expert in the field of child sexual abuse.” Legal 500.

She was counsel to Operation Pallial 2013 – 2020. Operation Pallial was formed to investigate allegations of child sex abuse in North Wales Children’s homes in 2012 by Teresa May. It was one of the largest investigations into child abuse in the UK to date. The Operation dealt with 255 complainants who made allegations of abuse against 120 possible suspects at 18 children's homes in North Wales between 1963 and 1992. The NCA investigated the Operation.