Advocate Lorenzo Alonzi guilty of unsatisfactory professional misconduct over rape trial behaviour

Lorenzo Alonzi represented defendant Daniel McFarlane at a trial in 2022.

Ellie Wilson, 26, the victim, said she had been “humiliated and shamed” by Mr Alonzi.

Ms Wilson said her ordeal was worsened by Mr Alonzi’s comments about her character before and after the defendant, 25, a former medical student, was found guilty on two charges of rape.

She made a complaint against the advocate, saying the distress had left her suicidal.

A Faculty of Advocates committee has found his behaviour amounted to unsatisfactory professional conduct in six of the 11 issues raised against him.

Speaking after the guilty verdicts had been returned at the trial, Mr Alonzi suggested that the jury had made the wrong decision.

Addressing the court, he said: “[McFarlane] hadn’t even kissed a girl before… He went to freshers’ week and he met [Wilson]. They were like chalk and cheese, my Lord. Chalk and cheese.”

He said that his client’s dream of becoming a doctor was in ruins. “It’s difficult not to imagine some sense of injustice in it all,” he told the court.

The Faculty report states: “The implication was that [Wilson] has unfairly done well in life… whereas [McFarlane] is innocent and has been wrongly convicted on the basis of her false testimony.”

The report also says that the advocate crossed the line a number of times.

“However, [Alonzi] repeatedly crossed that line even after several fairly lengthy exchanges with the trial judge where he was spoken to about this very issue.”

It added: “He acted in a manner that was discourteous to the court and abused the privileged position held by the member.

“His conduct was a breach of the duty he owed to the court and was likely to undermine the trust and confidence which others, including the court and the Crown, place in advocates to obey the rules and the law in relation to evidence.”