Richard Matthews KC

Gross negligence manslaughter and corporate manslaughter

Richard Matthews KC advised the Home Office Legal Advisors on the drafting of the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 and is the author of the leading practitioner’s textbook on the Act, Blackstone’s Guide to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (Oxford University Press).

Richard Matthews KC has particular experience in trials involving gross negligence and corporate manslaughter, having acted for the defence in a great number of such high profile cases. He has also advised and represented employers, corporations, company directors, local authorities, NHS trusts, hospitals, and individuals involved in gross negligence and corporate manslaughter offences, both at trials and at inquests.

For more than 10 years, Richard Matthews KC was Standing Counsel to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and during that time he advised both the HSE and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in respect of many of the investigations into public disasters, incidents of multiple fatalities and serious safety breaches. Over many years, Richard advised the CPS and prosecuted a vast number of the most serious gross negligence manslaughter cases, particularly those involving the uniformed services.