A MANX lawyer convicted of money laundering has been granted leave by the Privy Council to appeal against her conviction.
Jenny Holt, who has always maintained her innocence, was given leave to appeal after her legal team satisfied the appeal panel that there is a risk a substantial miscarriage of justice may have occurred.
The Privy Council is the final court of appeal for the Isle of Man. It is thought this is the first time since 1987 that leave has been granted by the court for an appeal against a conviction in a Manx criminal case.
Miss Holt was convicted in 2011 of money laundering and two counts of falsifying documents following a two-week trial. She escaped a jail term the following month when she was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.
She had been found guilty by a jury at the Court of General Gaol Delivery of handling £400,000 stolen from a trust fund by shamed tycoon Trevor Baines and his wife Wendy.
The money was used by the Baineses to pay their legal costs in a high-profile money laundering trial in 2009.
Miss Holt, pictured right, who worked as a junior advocate for Moroneys and was assigned to the Baineses’ defence team despite having no experience in criminal law, was described during her trial as an intelligent but foolish young lawyer.
The Crown alleged she had recklessly facilitated the arrangement of a loan from the trust fund, knowing it to be dishonest. But her defence insisted she had been duped by Mr Baines, who was portrayed in court as a confidence trickster.
Some of the jurors were in tears when they delivered their guilty verdicts. During sentencing, the Deemster admitted he wouldn’t have been surprised if the jury had returned a sympathy not guilty verdict.
This was despite the intervention of Attorney General John Corlett who pushed for an immediate custodial sentence, saying he was mindful of the ‘importance of the reputation of the island in the eyes of the International Monetary Fund’.
Miss Holt lost an appeal against her conviction in February this year and in May the appeal court here refused her leave to appeal to the Privy Council. But her legal team then filed an application directly to the Privy Council in London seeking leave to appeal.
Her advocate Richard Halsall said: ‘Jenny Holt has been granted leave to appeal by the Privy Council in London against her 2011 convictions. Miss Holt has always maintained her innocence and the application for leave to appeal required her legal team led by Joel Bennathan QC to satisfy the appeal panel that there is a risk a substantial miscarriage of justice may have occurred.
‘The appeal against her conviction will be heard in due course in London at the Privy Council which is the final court of appeal for the Isle of Man.
‘In the meantime Miss Holt is voluntarily not practising as an advocate and proceedings before the Advocates Disciplinary Tribunal brought by the Isle of Man Law Society have today been stayed pending the appeal. Miss Holt would like to thank all those who have supported her to date.’
