Sasha Wass

{{Short description|British QC}}

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Sasha Wass KC (born 19 February 1958) is a British judge, prosecutor and defender.

Her father, Sir Douglas Wass, was a senior civil servant.{{cite web|title=Sir Douglas Wass obituary {{!}} Civil service |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/05/sir-douglas-wass-obituary|access-date=23 July 2021|website=The Guardian}} She obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Liverpool and has been practising criminal law at the Bar for over four decades, having been called in 1981 and taking silk in 2000. She was appointed Recorder of the Crown Court in 1997, and a Recorder of the Central Criminal Court in 2008. She is part of the Chambers of Simon Denison KC 6KBW.{{Cite web|url=https://6kbw.com/people/barristers/sasha-wass-kc/|title=Sasha Wass KC}}{{Cite web|title=Sasha Wass > Chambers of Simon Denison QC > London > England {{!}} Lawyer Profile|url=https://www.legal500.com/firms/9445-chambers-of-simon-denison-qc/9445-london-england/lawyers/486927-sasha-wass-qc/|access-date=12 July 2021|website=www.legal500.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/376981/SASHA_WASS_QC.docx|title=PDF Sasha Wass}}

Wass has more recently participated in BBCs Murder, Mystery and My Family, reviewing historical verdicts in criminal trials from a prosecutor's perspective, testing the evidence against today's conviction standards and submitting findings to a retired Judge.{{Cite web|title=BBC One - Murder, Mystery and My Family - Episode guide|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ts770/episodes/guide|access-date=12 July 2021|website=BBC|language=en-GB}} Whilst the trial reviews cannot reverse past verdicts, they can help families to come to terms with the potential miscarriages of justice many decades ago.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

As a senior criminal barrister and formerly a QC she had helped to prosecute high profile cases, ranging from killer Rosemary West through to and including Rolf Harris{{Cite web|date=1 July 2014|title=Rolf Harris prosecutor Sasha Wass Queen's Counsel has history of working on high-profile cases|url=https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/rolf-harris-prosecutor-sasha-wass-queens-counsel-has-history-of-working-on-highprofile-cases/news-story/88df6c41cc68688a985d17d8c7dca279|access-date=14 July 2021|website=NewsComAu|language=en}} and she successfully advised the disgraced financier Roger Levitt on his plea bargain deal with the SFO; she was credited with saving Levitt from serving jail time by him agreeing to community service orders.{{Cite web|date=22 October 2011|title=How the Levitt deal was hammered out|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/how-the-levitt-deal-was-hammered-out-1621707.html|access-date=14 July 2021|website=The Independent}}

Wass successfully fought and won a full apology arising from her 2018 libel action against the Mail on Sunday for an article by David Rose containing profoundly false accusations that they had published about her in 2016.{{Cite web|last=Cross2018-06-13T08:35:00+01:00|first=Michael|title=QC wins apology and damages for 'buried evidence' libel|url=https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/qc-wins-apology-and-damages-for-buried-evidence-libel-/5066457.article|access-date=13 July 2021|website=Law Gazette|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Sasha Wass QC – top criminal QC secures full Court apology from Mail on Sunday|url=https://www.carter-ruck.com/news/sasha-wass-qc-top-criminal-qc-secures-full-court-apology-from-mail-on-sunday/|access-date=13 July 2021|website=Carter-Ruck}}

In 2020, Wass successfully defended her corporate client, News Group Newspapers, publishers of the U.K. Sun, against a libel action brought by U.S. actor Johnny Depp. Depp gave five days of testimony in London's High Court and was cross-examined by Wass, who sought to persuade the Court that Depp had abused his ex-wife Amber Heard, during their relationship. The Sun as publisher, had claimed Depp was a "wife-beater" in the article by then Executive Editor, Dan Wootton.{{Cite news |date=19 July 2020 |title=Factbox: Johnny Depp's libel case - The evidence so far |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-people-depp-evidence-factbox-idUKKCN24K0UY |access-date=18 December 2022}}{{Cite web |date=2 November 2020 |title=Depp loses libel case over Sun 'wife beater' claim |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54779430 |access-date=18 December 2022 |website=BBC News }}

In 2024, Wass lost her case for Tommy Robinson, aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, Britain's richest far right extremist, for contempt of court.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/28/tommy-robinson-admits-contempt-of-court-over-false-claims-about-refugee|title=Tommy Robinson jailed for 18 months after admitting contempt of court|first=Ben|last=Quinn|date=28 October 2024|via=The Guardian}}

In February 2025, she successfully defended television antiques expert Charles Hanson against accusations of domestic abuse.{{cite news |last1=Naylor |first1=Martin |title=Charles Hanson trial - The 'acrimonious divorce' played out in a courtroom |url=https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/charles-hanson-trial-acrimonious-divorce-9986096 |access-date=28 February 2025 |work=Derbyshire Live |date=28 February 2025}}