A BPP law student has pleaded guilty to possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, but still intends to finish her law degree.
Nishat Shaki, who is studying a three-year degree while working part-time at Lloyds Bank, fell on her sword when police spotted her friend hiding a bag in a bush on the Isle of Dogs last August. As officers quizzed the friend, 20-year-old Shaki interrupted and admitted that the bag was hers. Inside were two "golf ball"-sized lumps of cocaine of between 55-75% purity, with an estimated street value of £45,000.
Shaki confessed that another friend had given her the drugs to "look after". Their high level of purity suggested that the coke was destined to be cut before being sold on the street. Prosecutor Neil King told the Old Bailey that Shaki appeared to be no more than a mule, moving the drugs "on behalf of somebody higher up the chain". Shaki pleaded guilty on the first day of her trial, with her lawyer arguing that there was "no way, given her role in this, that she could have known this was cocaine with high purity".
He also said her behaviour was "entirely out of character". No evidence of anything to do with shipping industrial strength marching powder was found on her phone, in her financial records or at her home. Meanwhile, her CV did not scream Pablo Escobar, with work experience at CMS Cameron McKenna the year before, a clerking position at Temple Court Chambers and her current role as a student studying for a law degree at BPP.
Handing her a 21 month suspended sentence and 120 hours of unpaid work, Judge Timothy Pontius said he found it "very difficult to understand the level of stupidity that led you to behave in this way". Accepting that she was not a master criminal, he told her, "I doubt you will ever find yourself in a criminal court again - certainly not in the dock", adding that he "would be surprised if there wasn't some adverse effect" on her law career.
But Shaki's barrister said that although she realised her chances of qualifying were "all but gone", she was intent on finishing her BPP course. RollOnFriday asked BPP if it would be permitting Shaki to complete her degree, but it declined to comment.
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Nishat Shaki, who is studying a three-year degree while working part-time at Lloyds Bank, fell on her sword when police spotted her friend hiding a bag in a bush on the Isle of Dogs last August. As officers quizzed the friend, 20-year-old Shaki interrupted and admitted that the bag was hers. Inside were two "golf ball"-sized lumps of cocaine of between 55-75% purity, with an estimated street value of £45,000.
Shaki confessed that another friend had given her the drugs to "look after". Their high level of purity suggested that the coke was destined to be cut before being sold on the street. Prosecutor Neil King told the Old Bailey that Shaki appeared to be no more than a mule, moving the drugs "on behalf of somebody higher up the chain". Shaki pleaded guilty on the first day of her trial, with her lawyer arguing that there was "no way, given her role in this, that she could have known this was cocaine with high purity".
He also said her behaviour was "entirely out of character". No evidence of anything to do with shipping industrial strength marching powder was found on her phone, in her financial records or at her home. Meanwhile, her CV did not scream Pablo Escobar, with work experience at CMS Cameron McKenna the year before, a clerking position at Temple Court Chambers and her current role as a student studying for a law degree at BPP.
Shaki future as a lawyer |
Handing her a 21 month suspended sentence and 120 hours of unpaid work, Judge Timothy Pontius said he found it "very difficult to understand the level of stupidity that led you to behave in this way". Accepting that she was not a master criminal, he told her, "I doubt you will ever find yourself in a criminal court again - certainly not in the dock", adding that he "would be surprised if there wasn't some adverse effect" on her law career.
But Shaki's barrister said that although she realised her chances of qualifying were "all but gone", she was intent on finishing her BPP course. RollOnFriday asked BPP if it would be permitting Shaki to complete her degree, but it declined to comment.
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When I worked for a large commercial firm one of the partners was constantly sniffling due to his (alleged) coke habit. In the PM he would commonly have a snooze in the disabled loo.
It was common behaviour for younger (mostly female) lawyers to have a cheeky line in the loos before going out on a Friday.
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Meantime, how very satisfying for us all to have a human misery story to go into the last day of the working week with!
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On the one hand we are told that acting honestly and in the interests of our clients is important above all else. In this case it appears that the individual concerned had not malicious intent and quite frankly her primary error was being naïve/ gullible, unfortunately that will be the end of her career.
On the other hand a partner at the top of his specialism, who frankly should know better can engage in flagrant breaches of confidentiality in order to score points and look good in front of his and his wife's friends, completely undermine the commercial position of his client and gets effectively nothing more than a slap on the wrists... it just doesn't add up.