Trailblazing barrister, 38, who plotted brutal revenge attack with her gangster client over drugs turf war is jailed

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 12:42 EDT, 7 September 2026 | Updated: 12:42 EDT, 7 September 2026 A trailblazing barrister who plotted a brutal revenge attack with her gangster client after he was shot during a bloody drugs turf war has been jailed for more than three years.Samreen Akhtar, 38, was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars at Manchester Crown Court after a jury found her guilty of encouraging or assisting grievous bodily harm with intent.The barrister became embroiled in the violent underworld feud after her client, career criminal Tabish Ali, was shot and injured in Huddersfield on September 14, 2021.The following day, Akhtar was recorded during a telephone conversation with Ali putting forward a plan to find the man responsible for shooting him so that he could be seriously injured.Her imprisonment marks an extraordinary fall from grace for a lawyer who had previously built a public profile championing social mobility and encouraging aspiring black and Asian barristers to break into the profession.Akhtar's trial heard how Ali was already deeply involved in a vicious gang feud which had plagued Huddersfield with shootings and other violence for years.Just weeks after the revenge plot, he was charged with murdering Jamal Nedd, who had been gunned down outside his home in Ripon Avenue, Huddersfield, on December 19, 2020.Ali was later convicted of murder alongside two other men and handed a life sentence in July 2022. Samreen Akhtar, 38, was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars at Manchester Crown Court after a jury found her guilty of encouraging or assisting grievous bodily harm with intent The barrister became embroiled in the violent underworld feud after her client, career criminal Tabish Ali (pictured), was shot and injured in Huddersfield on September 14, 2021Police believed the September 2021 attempt on Ali's life was also connected to the same feud.Akhtar was arrested by detectives in February 2022 and charged the following year under the Serious Crime Act 2007 with encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence.She denied wrongdoing but was convicted by a majority verdict following a five-day trial in June.Detective Inspector Paul Hutchinson, who led the investigation for West Yorkshire Police, said: 'As a professional working in the criminal justice system, Samreen Akhtar would have been acutely aware of her legal and moral responsibilities, but she chose to act outside of those to plot revenge with a dangerous criminal involved in a violent gang feud which included the brutal execution of a rival, for which he was later convicted.'In doing so, she became a criminal herself and showed a complete disregard for the standards that are expected of those in the legal profession, and also for the significant negative impact that gang-related violence and criminality have on our communities.'Akhtar had previously spoken proudly about her working-class background and her journey to the Bar.She described how her father, a mechanic, would return home from work and help proofread her pupillage applications.In a 2020 interview, Akhtar said she had broken with tradition by continuing her education beyond the age of 16 and later studied law at the University of Huddersfield.She went on to become a Social Mobility Advocate and encouraged women from minority backgrounds to pursue careers at the Bar despite obstacles they may face.