Sally Daulton

Practice areas

Serious crime
General crime
Financial crime
Public law family
Private children

What others say

‘Sally has excellent client care skills; she instantly makes clients feel calm and at ease. She is a sharp advocate, picking up on the small details and drawing out the important elements in a skilled, calm and yet robust way.’

Legal 500 2024 Leading Juniors

‘Sally is a sensible advocate who is absolutely dedicated to her clients. She is impressive and detailed in cross examination, and is tenacious but unafraid of a fight when required and has excellent negotiation skills.’

Legal 500 2023 Leading Juniors

‘Sally stands out from the crowds in the insight, experience and the quality of service provided.’

Solicitor 2023

‘Sally is skilled at getting the best out of vulnerable witnesses, and she can be forthright and robust when required.’

Legal 500 2022 Leading Juniors

Profile

Sally has a mixed practice in both criminal and family law.  Before coming to the bar, Sally had a career in business and as a management consultant. She worked for Price Waterhouse’s Strategic Consulting Group, was a Director of Devon and Cornwall Training and Enterprise Council, and spent many years as a Non-Executive Director in the NHS.

Crime

Sally prosecutes and defends in the Crown Court and has experience of a wide range of offences. She has been led junior in prosecutions for murder, Section 18 Assaults against a child and child cruelty. She has prosecuted and defended cases involving serious violent offences, serious sexual offences, fraud and money laundering, drugs offences, dishonesty offences including aggravated robbery and burglary and road traffic offences.

 During her previous career, Sally obtained an MBA in Finance and chaired NHS Audit Committees.  This financial background enables Sally to easily get to grips with complex financial matters. She is often instructed in fraud cases or those involving complex Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) applications. She was led junior for one of the defendants in a complex charity fraud trial at the Old Bailey, in which she undertook the cross-examination of the prosecution’s expert forensic accountant.

Sally’s ability to understand and analyse complex evidence, combined with her personable and straightforward approach, ensure that her case is always presented comprehensively and accurately in terms that are accessible to a jury, making her a very persuasive advocate.

Family

With a focus on children law, both public and private, Sally represents parents, local authorities and guardians, including rule 16.4 guardians in private law proceedings.

With her advocacy skills honed in the criminal courts, Sally is particularly in demand for fact-finding hearings, where she has represented parents accused of sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence and parental alienation. She is at ease forensically cross-examining professionals including medical experts, robustly challenging parents, and appropriately questioning child and other vulnerable witnesses. Her thorough approach to preparing for such hearings means she always has a firm grasp of the evidence and a convincing and compelling basis for her submissions.

In contested family matters, Sally’s pragmatic approach often leads to parents being able to find a solution that works for them and their children. Where this is either impossible or inappropriate, Sally robustly advocates on behalf of her client and regularly succeeds in obtaining a fair outcome for her client and their children.

Sally has a particularly good understanding of mental health and learning disabilities. In her previous career she chaired the Panel of Mental Health Act Managers for Cornwall and is often instructed in cases where there are mental health concerns, both in the criminal and family courts.

Sally is authorised to undertake work in accordance with the Public Access Scheme, which means that members of the public can instruct Sally directly.

Sally is regulated by the Bar Standards Board.

Recent Cases

R v B & C (2020).  Led by Adam Feest QC in the prosecution of two defendants for murder.  Issues included: intent, joint enterprise, expert medical evidence in relation to stab wounds, movements of defendants traced through telephone, CCTV and car number plate recognition.
R v C (2019).  Led by Jo Martin QC in the prosecution of a mother for child cruelty and administering poison with intent.  The case involved detailed expert medical evidence in relation to a baby stopping breathing and drug metabolytes being found in a baby’s urine.  There were connected family court proceedings.   
R v V & W (2018).  Led by Jo Martin QC in the prosecution of two parents for inflicting life changing injuries to their 4 month old baby. Charges included s18 GBH and a joint charge of failing to protect the baby. The presentation of the case required detailed analysis of phone records and timings of various injuries to enable the jury to decide which parent had caused the significant injuries and whether the other parent was or should have been aware. There were connected family court proceedings.
R v WW & F & T (2020).  Prosecuted two men and a woman for aggravated burglary in which they broke in to the victim’s home, sprayed him in the face with ammonia, and stole drugs and a wallet.  The victim was initially reluctant to assist the prosecution and required a sensitive approach.   
R v J (2019).  Prosecuted a man for arson in a case where there had been a series of cars being set on fire in a locality.  The case involved CCTV and phone download evidence. 
R v W (2016).  Defended a man in his sixties against 23 counts of historical sexual offences against children.  During the trial, two further counts of attempted rape were added.  There was legal argument regarding the admission of bad character evidence of the defendant’s earlier pleas to counts of voyeurism.
R v C (2016).  Appealed a Crown Court restraining order on the grounds that it was unenforceable due to failure to properly define the area from which the defendant was excluded.