Sasha Wass KC (born 19 February 1958) is a British judge, prosecutor and defender. Her father, Sir Douglas Wass, was a senior civil servant. She obtained a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

and has been practising

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

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. Wass has more recently participated in BBCs ''

Murder, Mystery and My Family ''Murder, Mystery and My Family'' is a BBC One series featuring Sasha Wass KC and Jeremy Dein KC., which examines historic criminal convictions resulting in the death penalty in order to determine if any of them resulted in a miscarriage of ...

'', 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. 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. As a senior criminal barrister and formerly a QC she had helped to prosecute high profile cases, ranging from defending killer

Rosemary West Rosemary Pauline West (née Letts; born 29 November 1953) is an English serial killer who collaborated with her husband, Fred West, in the torture and murder of ten young women between 1973 and 1987;

through to and including

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (30 March 1930 – 10 May 2023) was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He used a variety of instruments in his performances, notably the didgeridoo and the Stylophone, and is credited with the inventi ...

and she successfully advised the disgraced financier Roger Levitt on his plea bargain deal with the

SFO San Francisco International Airport is the primary international airport for the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport has a San Francisco mailing a ...

; she was credited with saving Levitt from serving jail time by him agreeing to community service orders. 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. 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 John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...

. 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 Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film '' All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006), and went on to star in films such as '' The Ward'' (2010), '' Drive Angry'' (2011), and ...

, during their relationship. The Sun as publisher, had claimed Depp was a "wife-beater" in the article by then Executive Editor, Dan Wootton. In 2024, Wass lost her case for

Tommy Robinson Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (' Yaxley; born 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British anti-Islam sentiment, anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK's most prominent far-right activists. Robinson has been active in ...

for contempt of court. In February 2025, she successfully defended television antiques expert Charles Hanson against accusations of domestic abuse.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wass, Sasha 1958 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool English women lawyers English barristers English King's Counsel