Crimewatch appeal launched after Sheffield criminal barrister Desmond Rosario fails to turn up to Magistrates’ Court
A barrister who until recently worked at a top northern chambers has disappeared after police sought to question him in connection with a sexual assault on a teenage girl.
Crime specialist Desmond Rosario, 46, practised at the Sheffield Branch of St Johns Buildings until last year, having previously been part of Paradise Chambers, which merged with St Johns in 2011.
Having failed to turn up to Leicester Magistrates Court in June, South Yorkshire Police issued a warrant for Rosario’s arrest. But they failed to locate him, and on Thursday the case featured on BBC show Crimewatch (see Vine clip below).
Eight phone calls were received as a result, which the police say has given them “a number of lines of enquiry to follow up”.
To date, detectives have been pursuing a theory that Rosario has fled the country and is seeking work as a lawyer abroad, possibly in mainland Europe or Canada. They reckon Rosario — who used to prosecute and defend a range of serious criminal cases — could be using the aliases “David D’Cruz” or “Desmond David Luc D’Cruz”.
When contacted by Legal Cheek this morning, St Johns Buildings said that although Rosario had practised from its Sheffield branch and appeared on its marketing material he had not formally “bought in” to chambers before he left in 2013.