Barrister Samreen Akhtar, 37, from Huddersfield, has been convicted of using her professional contacts to help a criminal take revenge over an attempt on his life, leaving her legal career in ruins and facing a possible prison sentence. Once regarded as one of the brightest new barristers on the circuit — in part for speaking out against the prejudice faced by young black and Asian aspiring lawyers — she was found guilty of assisting a violent reprisal linked to a drugs turf war.

According to the report, Akhtar helped career criminal Tabish Ali after he was shot in West Yorkshire, having learned the identity of the gunman and then conspiring to track him down and maim him. She was convicted at Manchester Crown Court after a week-long trial of intentionally encouraging or assisting grievous bodily harm with intent, an offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Ali had been the target of an underworld shooting in 2021. Akhtar is due to be sentenced on 7 September and can expect to be struck off by the Bar Standards Council, while her reason for jeopardising her career remains unknown.