I used to be Anthony Joshua’s lawyer… this is how I saved his profession

Tonight Anthony Joshua will step into the ring inside Wembley Stadium in front of more than 90,000 fight fans in his bid to become a three-time World Champion.

The heavyweight Arsenal fan will face Daniel Dubois. In his corner will be Ben Davison, yet in the most crucial fight of his career, Joshua had a former boxer, award winning crime author and a barrister supporting him in an unwinnable battle.

Regina v Joshua. 

In one corner was the Crown Prosecution Service and in the other was Anthony Joshua. He had been arrested in 2011 ahead of the Olympics in London.

At the time he was a promising, but widely unknown prospect in amateur boxing. For the Metropolitan Police, he was a man who had been caught with a bag of cannabis next to him in a car. A fact that he freely admitted.

A conviction for possession with intent to supply would have ended his dreams of boxing.

Luckily for the athlete from Watford, he had Tony Wyatt – better known as the crime author Tony Kent – representing him.

When presented with a client who has admitted their involvement in a crime, a barrister is obliged to advise them that they have to plead guilty to the appropriate charge.

However, possession with intent to supply would have had an immediate impact on Joshua’s nascent career. It would have ended it.

However, with the looming Olympics the barrister asked the judge for some latitude.

Mr Wyatt told MailOnline: ‘The case would have led to a very different career and life for him if it had not gone this way.

‘Without getting into the detail, you cannot represent someone who tells you they are guilty. The reality is sometimes it is very apparent someone is guilty and you have to give them some very solid advice.

‘The problem was if Josh had been convicted of possession with intent to supply, he would never have been allowed to box for Team GB, and he was already their Super Heavyweight.

‘If he was found guilty he would have lost his ABA (Amateur Boxing Association) licence.’

Mr Wyatt said Joshua was training to fight in an upcoming European Championships which was also a qualifying tournament for the London Olympics. 

If he was prevented from competing in the qualifier he would have been ineligible to fight at London 2012.

He said: ‘If he had a conviction for intent to supply he would never have been able to fight in America and that would have made him a far less attractive prospect for professional boxing.

‘It was apparent that he was someone with potentially an amazing future which he was going to lose if he did what would legally be termed ”the right thing” which was to plead guilty.’

Tony said he and Joshua were very lucky with the judge who was hearing the case.

He said: ‘We did something which was a bit unusual. We were very lucky to have Judge Lyons, who is a bit of a maverick. 

‘He was willing to do something outside the box.’

Mr Wyatt said he first approached the CPS and said they had to fight the case even though it could not be won because he did not want Joshua to lose out on his future.

The CPS said there was nothing they could do.

‘So I took a risk and went in front of Judge Lyons and simply said: “Here’s the problem. If we fight this case we will lose this case we know that. But we cannot not fight it.”

‘I said ”when you look at it, it’s cannabis which is not a Class A drug, it is Class B and it was not a huge amount. It was a medium amount. When you look at the sentencing guidelines you are not going to prison for this for what is effectively a first offence. 

‘If Parliament when passing these laws didn’t think it was worth losing your future… I didn’t think it was worth losing an exceptional future like this.”’

Mr Wyatt said he made a deal proposal to the judge.

‘I said this was one of those scenarios where we can save this young man’s future.

‘We can make sure this mistake does not take away a future that none of us ever had available and one that is available to almost no one ever.

‘I said we can make sure that he does not lose out because of a youthful mistake and at the same time we can do something positive.’

Mr Wyatt said he suggested to the judge that his client was willing to plead guilty to the lesser charge of possession. He said the judge could hand down a 300-hour community service order – to be served in a boxing club teaching young children.

He said the judge addressed the CPS and said Mr Wyatt’s proposal made ‘an awful lot of common sense’ and suggested the prosecution should show some equal sense.

After a brief discussion the CPS accepted the proposal which saved Anthony Joshua’s career.

But Mr Wyatt plays down his involvement in Joshua’s career.

He said: ‘He’s the one getting punched, doing all the training and being an amazing boxer throughout the year.

‘If the criminal justice system is to re-educate and to try and make people better citizens, then that’s the option that should be taken.’

In his latest book, The Shadow Network written under the pen name Tony Kent, one of his protagonists, Michael Devlin has recently welcomed twin sons.

But fans of the series featuring Devlin and his partner Joe Dempsey, soon linked one son’s name to a very famous fictional character in the classic thriller, The Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins.

However, Tony said it was a ‘complete coincidence’ that he named the character Liam Devlin.

For those who haven’t read the Dempsey and Devlin books, Michael Devlin is a Belfast-born barrister whose wider family are a gang of notorious criminals. So he is forced to change his name from Casey to Devlin – after his mother – to minimise the connection.

Devlin’s brother and best friend die in the first book, one of whom was called Liam.

‘I never made the connection with Liam Devlin until the book was about to come out. I took the name from my family. My great grandfather was called Michael Devlin and Liam Devlin was his brother, so I just used those.

‘It was only when my editor got to it and she said she just realised who Liam Devlin was. As a result, I had to go back and make a change to the book about how Devlin was forced to change his name because of his family who were major criminals in Belfast, simply because I did not I had not worked out the link between Liam Devlin and a very famous book.’

Next month, Tony is organising the Chiltern Kills Crime Writing festival in Gerrard’s Cross, which is 20 minutes from London Marylebone station, on Saturday October 5, 2024.

Dozens of the best crime writers in the country are attending the event which is raising money on behalf of Centrepoint Youth Homeless Charity.

All of the money raised at the event is going to the charity – including the authors’ appearance fees.

According to Tony, everyone is even paying for their own travel and accommodation, while sponsors are paying for the venue.

Among those attending are Jeffrey Archer, Ian Rankin, Peter James and the stars of 1980s TV cop show Dempsey and Makepeace.

The event’s patron is the legendary thriller writer Frederick Forsyth.

General admission for the event is £40, while entry including a one-to-one session with a leading literary agent for aspiring – or perspiring authors is £60. 

Ticket are available here.