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| Serious fraud trial halted amid legal row | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A judge has halted a serious fraud trial involving defendants who could not get representation following cuts to legal aid. | |
| Alex Cameron QC - the prime minister's brother - argued the trial could not go ahead because the state had "failed to provide" adequate representation. | |
| He was representing some of the defendants free of charge as they sought to get the trial halted. | |
| The judge decided there was no prospect of a fair trial. | |
| The government has cut fees for such long and complex cases by 30%, the BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said. | |
| Judge Anthony Leonard told Southwark Crown Court the defence had made "very substantial... but unsuccessful" efforts to find barristers to fight the defendants' case. | |
| The case was brought last year by the Financial Conduct Authority against Scott Crawley and seven other men. | |
| It concerned the activities of Plott UK Ltd, European Property Investments Ltd and Stirling Alexander Ltd. | |
| The companies are believed to have taken more than £5m from UK investors between 2008 and 2011, the FCA said at the time. |