Elaine Freer
Elaine Freer has built a successful Prosecution practice, prosecuting across the full spectrum of criminal offences.
As a Grade 3 and RASSO prosecutor, she has experience of pre-recorded cross examination of child complainants in both sexual and non-sexual offences cases, and adult complainants in sexual offences, under s.28 of the YJCEA 1999. She is also familiar with working with intermediaries who are assisting witnesses to ensure that questioning is appropriate and can be understood, to enable the witness to give their best evidence. She is also experienced in dealing with expert evidence, including complex inter-relating medical evidence across disciplines in cases where a young child is alleged to have been injured by a caregiver.
Elaine is a member of the CPS Specialist Fraud and Serious Crime Panels, both at Grade 3. She has been instructed by the CPS’s Serious Fraud Division as disclosure counsel in a long-running and complex high-value fraud investigated by the NCA, which led to the convictions of all three defendants. More recently she has been led junior in cases concerning the fraudulent obtaining of legal title to a property, and in a separate case, the fraudulent obtaining of civil orders and judgments.
Having been a clerk to disciplinary tribunals at the Bar Tribunal and Adjudication Services, providing legal and procedural advice to Panels adjudicating cases of alleged misconduct against barristers, as well as representing registrants before the NMC and HCPC, Elaine has experience of both angles of regulatory proceedings.
In 2019, Elaine wrote a comprehensive guide to ancillary orders in the criminal courts, published by Bloomsbury Professional. A second edition, co-authored with Ryan Evans, was published in 2024.
Prior to pupillage, Elaine completed a PhD at Keele University on an ACORN scholarship jointly funded by The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple and Keele University. Elaine continues her engagement with academic law by combining practice with being a Fellow and part-time College Teaching Officer at Robinson College, Cambridge, where she teaches a variety of criminal law-related papers.
She writes regularly for various journals and is the author of a chapter of Archbold. Between 2022 and 2025, she was the academic member of the Sentencing Council, where she enjoyed using her combination of academic knowledge, and experience as a practitioner, to contribute to shaping the Sentencing Guidelines.
Notable cases
R v G – prosecution of a man accused of sexually assaulted a 6 year old child. She gave evidence via ABE and s28, with a ground rules hearing being held with evidence from the intermediary who had assessed her. Supplementary questioning was necessary as part of the s28 procedure. The defendant was convicted of one of two counts and received a 3 year and 6 month sentence.
R v H – prosecution of a man who shook his infant son, causing serious injuries. Required marshalling of extensive medical evidence and disclosure relating to Family Court material, as a fact-finding hearing had been held relating to how the injuries had been caused. D pleaded guilty to a s20 offence, which was accepted as it was consistent with the evidence. D received 32 months in custody.
R v P – prosecution of a defendant involved in the importation of 18kg of cocaine and 72kg of crystal methamphetamine. After the trial had to be stopped due to technical issues, D pleaded guilty to both counts before the retrial, and received a nine and a half year sentence.
R v S – Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) - Appeal against sentence in an indecent images case. Having been refused leave by the Single Judge, successfully argued before the full Court that the Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed was disproportionate by virtue of being indefinite.
Appointments / Professional
Elaine Freer was Called by Lincoln’s Inn, and is also an ad eundum member of Inner Temple, where she sits on their Outreach Committee.
Crown Prosecution Service - Grade 3 and RASSO prosecutor
Crown Prosecution Service - Specialist Fraud Panel - Grade 3
February 2024 - Appointed Deputy District Judge
Qualifications
2016: PhD (Keele)
2012: MPhil Criminology (Cantab)
2011: BPTC (Kaplan Law School)
2010: BA (Hons) Law (Cantab)
Scholarships
Hardwicke Entrance Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn)
Lord Denning Scholarship 2010/2011 (Lincoln’s Inn)
Cloth Fair Scholarship 2011 (Kalisher Trust)
Levitt Pupillage Scholarship 2015 (Lincoln’s Inn)
Publications
Elaine Freer's PhD thesis examined the extent to which a professional organisation such as an Inn of Court could influence its profession’s demographic. A book based on the resulting PhD thesis, 'Social Mobility and the Legal Profession: The case of professional associations and access to the English Bar', was published in March 2018 by Routledge.
In 2019, Elaine wrote a comprehensive guide to ancillary orders in the criminal courts, ‘A Practitioner’s Guide to Ancillary Orders in Criminal Courts’, published by Bloomsbury Professional.
A second edition, co-authored with Ryan Evans, was published in 2024.
Elaine Freer’s invaluable guide to ancillary orders in the criminal courts is reflective of her approach to cases in general. She presents complex material attractively, applying intellectual rigour to the real world of criminal practice.
"This book provides a clear analysis of those possibilities [created by the myriad of ancillary orders] and is to be welcomed: it will help judges and practitioners navigate the complex landscape that the law has created. [It] sets out the criteria and law surrounding orders and explains them clearly and in detail: it addresses an often overlooked area of the law but one that it is essential we understand and apply correctly."
Sir Brian Leveson, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Head of Criminal Justice – in his Foreword to the book
Sir Brian Leveson, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Head of Criminal Justice – in his Foreword to the book
Call: 2011
Specialist Areas
VAT number: 256138794