Ryan Beckwith’s lead counsel, Alisdair Williamson QC, opened day three of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing into the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner’s alleged sexual misconduct, by grilling the complainant over perceived “conflicts” and inconsistencies in her evidence.
In his cross-examination of the complainant, known as Person A – who has accused Beckwith of having engaged in sexual activity with her without consent – Williamson attempted to discredit the evidence she has put forward in support of her claim that she was too drunk to have consented to any sexual activity, that a kiss had taken place after an event in Oxfordshire, and at times intimated that her relationship with Beckwith was not as fraught as she has claimed.
