Jo Sidhu

Navjot Sidhu KC
Navjot Sidhu
Navjot Sidhu KC speaking at an event in parliament 2018
Born	London, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	London School of Economics University of Oxford
Occupation	Barrister
Years active	1993–present

Navjot Sidhu KC (Punjabi: ਜੋ ਸਿਧੁ) (born 5th of November 1966 in Southall, London) is a British criminal law barrister and King's Counsel.

He is currently the subject of disciplinary proceedings before the Bar Tribunal (administered by the Bar Standards Board) regarding 15 charges of misconduct, including several of a sexual nature against three women who were either law students or undergoing mini-pupillage at the time of the alleged misconduct. The tribunal earlier struck out 13 other charges alleged by the Bar Standards Board, the profession’s regulator.

Sidhu has worked as a criminal law barrister since 1993.^[1]

He is a past chairman of the Criminal Bar Association.

He was the chairperson for the Society of Asian lawyers, the biggest BAME lawyers’ society in the UK representing over 3,000 members^[2] and since 2001 he has been the Vice chair of the Equality & Diversity Committee of the Bar Council.^[3]

In 2012 Sidhu was appointed Queen's Counsel a rank awarded to about 8% of practising barristers.^[4] He is one of about 100 BAME QCs in Britain of whom few have Punjabi origin.^[5]

Like other successful criminal practitioners, Sidhu specialises in serious crime, typically terrorism, homicides and conspiracies involving frauds, robberies and drug trafficking.^[6] He was a target of death threats and online harassment lasting 12 months in 2015. After police were unable to provide assistance due to a lack of resources, Sidhu hired a forensic computer expert to track the cyber-criminal behind the smear campaign, who was then jailed for five years.^[7]

Sidhu has said that the government must do more to tackle cyber threats of this nature.^[8][9]

Sidhu relinquished his practising certificate and is no longer a practising barrister in England and Wales.^[10]

It was announced in the British Media during the Autumn of 2024 that Sidhu was being investigated for sexual harassment of younger female colleagues, firstly in 11th September edition of The Times ^[11] Confirmation was given in November 2024 by the Law Society Gazette and others. ^[12]

Sidhu faces 15 charges of misconduct before the Bar Tribunal and Advisory Service. The tribunal earlier struck out 13 other charges alleged by the Bar Standards Board, the profession’s regulator.^[13]

In opening the case against Mr Sidhu, barrister Fiona Horlick KC for the Bar Standards Board said: "This case concerns the predatory behaviour of a very senior, very well-known member of the profession who used his pre-eminent position to manipulate vulnerable young women who were considering a career at the bar in order to gain sexual favours."^[14]

Mr Sidhu has failed in multiple attempts to keep the ongoing tribunal proceedings secret and delay the proceedings due to alleged health conditions suffered by Mr Sidhu.^[15][16]

The charges relate to three female aspiring lawyers. Their allegations are summarised below.^{[17] [18]}

Person 1

In August 2016 Sidhu is alleged to have sent a GDL student looking for work experience at the bar (Person 1), a WhatsApp message saying, “Mmm, I would love to see you twerk,” or words to that effect. The charge sheet states that Sidhu sent the message around 11pm and that “he had a sexual motive in sending the message”.^[19]

Sidhu apparently first met Person 1 a few months previously at a networking event at the Law Society.^[20]

Person 2

In November 2018, Sidhu is accused of inviting Person 2, a paralegal in her 20s who was doing work experience with him, to stay overnight in his hotel room and in his hotel bed, during a mini-pupillage.^[21]

The charge sheet states that Sidhu had told Person 2 that due to confidentiality they needed the privacy of his hotel bedroom to work on the case, and had made the invitation to stay when they were alone together in the bedroom late in the evening.^[22]

When Person 2 stated that “she wished to and/or should leave the hotel room”, the charge sheet says that Sidhu encouraged her to stay, changed into his pyjamas and placed pillows on the bed, apparently stating: “These will act as a barricade,” or words to that effect, before insisting that Person 2 should sleep on the bed with him rather than on the sofa.^[23]

Person 2 said “I did not want the sexual activity.”^[24] She said that Sidhu, who is now 58, kissed her and then engaged in sexual activity. “I can’t remember exactly the sequence of events,” said the woman, who gave evidence remotely via video link. “He kissed me and touched me under my clothes on my skin. He touched me on my skin, on my private parts and my breast.” ^[25]

The woman continued that on that evening she had not taken any night clothes. “I was wearing clothes — at some point they came off,” she said, before adding: “I made it clear I did not want to be in the room. I made excuses. I did not want the sexual activity to happen … I lay on my back. I didn’t respond when he came on top of me.^[26]

Sidhu had apparently originally initiated contact with Person 2 via LinkedIn by sending her an unsolicited message. It’s also alleged that he made “sexually motivated and inappropriate comments” to Person 2, saying that her “bum” looked good in a dress which she was wearing or words to that effect.^[27]

Person 3

The student was participating in a scheme to encourage students from under-represented groups to come to the bar.^[28]

Sidhu is accused of having a “sexualised personal relationship” with Person 3.^[29]

Person 3 was described as ‘even younger than Person 1 or 2’,Sidhu began contact with Person 3 after she messaged him on LinkedIn when she was in her first year of pursuing a law degree in 2018, and he arranged for her to shadow him.^[30] They met at a bar in December 2018 and Sidhu kissed Person 3 on the cheek when they said goodbye.

In late 2018, Sidhu apparently invited the student to his hotel room during work experience, also in the late evening outside working hours, and then followed up with a message on Telegram stating that he had wanted to have sex with her.^[31]

He invited her to his hotel the next day. Sidhu ‘did not do more than touch her momentarily on the leg’. In January 2019 Sidhu ‘introduced sexual tone to their messages by asking what she wanted as a young woman’.^[32]

He asked for photos and in April 2019 Sidhu ‘wanted to start sexual video calls’. Person 3 initially refused. She later ‘agreed to a video call in which both of them were naked and Mr Sidhu was masturbating and telling her what to do’. The tribunal heard Sidhu also proposed a threesome which never happened. In March 2022 they were sexually messaging again and Person 3 began saving some of the messages ‘despite his instructions to delete them’.^[33]

On a separate occasion the following year, he is accused of suggesting to Person 3 that he meet her at her student accommodation in London in order to have sex.^[34]

Sidhu is also accused of “requesting and/or encouraging” Person 3 to engage in one or more sexual video calls, between 2019 and 2022, and engaging in the sexually explicit WhatsApp message exchanges. He is accused of then asking Person 3 to delete the exchanges.^[35]

In 2016, Sidhu was awarded the UK's Asian Professional of the Year Award 2016.^[36]