Thomas Beardsworth

Tom is a third-six pupil who joined Chambers in January 2024.

In criminal law, in 2023 Tom successfully represented an e-bike company among the first to be prosecuted by the DVSA, a police officer charged with public order offences and a member of a ‘paedophile hunter’ group charged with false imprisonment. Tom’s instructions in 2024 include representing the leader of a paedophile hunter group in the Midlands; and a man of good character accused of sexual assault by multiple complainants. Tom’s recent prosecution instructions include robbery, affray and a two-handed fraud.

In the civil jurisdiction, Tom has a particular interest in the exercise of investigative powers and the civil recovery of the proceeds of crime. He has represented the Metropolitan Police in asset forfeiture applications brought under Part V of POCA.

Before coming to the Bar, Tom worked for five years as a financial journalist at Bloomberg. Among the topics he wrote about were the recapitalisation of European banks, litigation finance and the impact of sanctions against Russian entities in the bond market. His reporting about Greensill Capital was cited by the 2021 Parliamentary inquiry.