A Huddersfield barrister who previously spoke about breaking down barriers in the legal profession and encouraged young South Asians to follow her into law has been jailed after plotting a revenge attack with a career criminal client.
Samreen Akhtar, 38, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison at Manchester Crown Court after being convicted of encouraging or assisting the commission of grievous bodily harm with intent.
The case represents a striking reversal for Akhtar, who six years ago spoke to Asian Standard about her journey into the legal profession, the challenges she had faced as a woman from a minority ethnic background and her desire to improve social mobility at the Bar.
At the time, she told young people to “persevere” despite setbacks and spoke about the importance of tackling barriers to entering the profession.
But a jury heard that in September 2021, while working as a barrister, Akhtar became involved in plotting violence alongside one of her own clients following a shooting linked to a bitter Huddersfield drugs gang feud.
Akhtar’s client, Tabish Ali, had been shot and injured in Blacker Road, Huddersfield, on 14 September, 2021.
The following day, Akhtar was recorded during a telephone conversation with Ali putting forward a plan to find the person responsible for the shooting so that they could be seriously injured.
The shooting was believed to form part of an escalating feud between rival drug-dealing gangs in Kirklees which had already resulted in a series of violent and firearms incidents.
Ali would himself later be convicted of murder.
In October 2021, he was charged with the murder of Jamal Nedd, who had been shot outside his home in Ripon Avenue, Huddersfield, on 19 December, 2020.
Mr Nedd had been driving his mother to work when he was fatally wounded.
Ali, then of Clare Road, Cleckheaton, was convicted alongside two other men and given a life sentence in July 2022.
Their trial heard that Mr Nedd’s murder formed part of an escalating drugs “turf war” which had involved numerous violent incidents and the use of firearms since 2018.
West Yorkshire Police said the attempted murder of Ali the following year was also believed to have been connected to the continuing feud.
Akhtar was arrested by detectives in February 2022, but her conviction stands in stark contrast to the career and public message she had previously presented.
When Asian Standard interviewed her in 2020, Akhtar described growing up in Huddersfield and becoming fascinated with the law as a child.
She told us that, coming from a Pashtun background, she had “broken from tradition” by continuing her education beyond the age of 16, with the support of her parents.
She studied law at the University of Huddersfield before completing the Bar Vocational Course and a master’s degree in law.
Akhtar described undertaking mini-pupillages across Leeds, London and Manchester, marshalling at York Crown Court and working with prisoners and criminal defence firms as she pursued her ambition of joining the Criminal Bar.
She eventually secured pupillage with the Crown Prosecution Service in 2015.
At the time of our interview, Akhtar spoke particularly passionately about increasing representation within the profession.
She discussed the racism and mistaken identity experienced by minority ethnic barristers and said more needed to be done than simply promoting diversity and equality.
As a social mobility advocate, she also offered to provide guidance to young people interested in following her into the profession.
“Financial support is necessary to eradicate socio-economic barriers in order to attract a talented and diverse range of candidates to the Bar,” she told Asian Standard at the time.
She encouraged aspiring lawyers to embrace obstacles and persevere through rejection, telling them: “All of you have the talent, skill, and capability to excel in whatever it is you want to do.”
Five years after the offence which would ultimately lead to her imprisonment, Akhtar returned to court — this time as a defendant.
She had been charged in March 2023 with encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence, namely inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, under the Serious Crime Act 2007.
Akhtar denied the charge.
Following a five-day trial in June this year, she was convicted by a majority jury verdict.
At Manchester Crown Court on Monday, she was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
Detective Inspector Paul Hutchinson, who led the investigation for West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said Akhtar would have been “acutely aware” of her responsibilities because of her position within the criminal justice system.
He said: “As a professional working in the criminal justice system, Samreen Akhtar would have been acutely aware of her legal and moral responsibilities, but she chose to act outside of those to plot revenge with a dangerous criminal involved in a violent gang feud which included the brutal execution of a rival, for which he was later convicted.
“In doing so, she became a criminal herself and showed a complete disregard for the standards that are expected of those in the legal profession, and also for the significant negative impact that gang-related violence and criminality have on our communities.”
DI Hutchinson said West Yorkshire Police remained committed to targeting serious and organised crime through its Programme Precision initiative.
He added: “We will continue to relentlessly pursue those involved, no matter what their role or occupation, to keep our communities safe.”
