David Armstrong
David Armstrong, LL.B. (Hons), NLP M.P, D Hyp, ISCH, GQHP.
David is widely known within the public sector as “the Wig”.
David is a founder member of Mallard Consultancy Ltd. He is a highly experienced advocate and Barrister (having finally retired from practice in 2024). He has worked in both the private and public sector and, in his early career as a solicitor, was employed by a large metropolitan local authority for 10/11 years as their Head of Litigation. David has prosecuted many precedent cases for public bodies and also taken action on behalf of, and trained many RSL's in civil actions to combat nuisance.
David is a Law Society and ILEX accredited trainer in advocacy and courtroom skills for the legal profession, in addition to Law Society and ILEX accreditation for client training.
David was the CIEH's trainer for their national enforcement compliance programme (aimed towards negotiation and conflict resolution without the need to resort to prosecution) and also a trainer for their EHO CPD training programme.
The offence charting system now used by many progressive local authorities was devised and authored by David Armstrong. David also drove the use of BWV for practical on-site recording by Council enforcement officers, use of questionnaires in housing inspections and the now-widespread use of section 108 Environment Act 1995 in investigation and prosecution of waste offences.
David acted as Keep Britain Tidy’s legal expert for six years and authored several of Defra’s guides, including those relating to litter clearing and street litter control. David developed the regulatory management and enforcement training packages used by Keep Britain Tidy from 2006 to 2012. He is an accredited trainer for the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management.
David had conduct of “Operation Fox”, the largest food prosecution ever successfully undertaken by a local authority, leading to up to 10 years’ imprisonment for those concerned and to compulsory staining of condemned poultry meat. Amongst many other firsts, he also pioneered the use of Criminal Behaviour Orders in relation to Housing Act prosecutions to restrict the operations of rogue landlords.
In short, David Armstrong, in conjunction with Mallard, is uniquely positioned to ensure you receive the highest quality enforcement training package available in this field.
Some Notable Cases:
Prosecutor of “Operation Fox” – the country’s largest illegal meat fraud prosecution, involving a 2 year investigation and 400,000 exhibits – directly leading to extension of permanent marking to condemned poultry meat.
Successfully brought the country’s first ever test case relating to wolf hybrids under The Dangerous Wild Animals Act.
Successfully brought the country’s first ever test case on the ambit of Part I authorisations issued pursuant to the Environmental Protection Act.
Won two Court of Appeal precedent cases in local authority procedure.
