Keir Monteith KC is a leading Silk who represents clients facing heavyweight criminal allegations. He is ranked for criminal law in Chambers UK and the Legal 500 and regularly writes, speaks and campaigns on the topic of anti-racism in the legal system.

The barrister is a founding member of Art Not Evidence, a campaign launched in 2023, with the support of fellow legal experts, MPs, human rights groups and musicians, to stop the use of creative and artistic expression, particularly in rap and drill music, as evidence in criminal trials.

Art Not Evidence says police and prosecutors currently use the act of writing, performing or even engaging with rap and drill music to suggest motive, intention or propensity for criminal behaviour.

Art Not Evidence suggests this perpetuates harmful racial stereotypes and risks causing miscarriages of justice, particularly in Joint Enterprise convictions – when someone is found guilty of a crime they did not directly commit – where music has been used to ‘drag multiple people into criminal charges’ under the guise of so-called gang activity.

Mr Monteith KC currently represents a total of three defendants who are appealing convictions for murder or conspiracy to commit GBH. In each case the prosecution relied on rap music to help prove gang membership.

He recently secured the quashing of Ade Adedeji's wrongful conviction for conspiracy to commit GBH in the notorious Manchester 10 case, in which ten Manchester teenagers were convicted for conspiracy to murder and GBH. A shared interest in drill music featured prominently in their trial.

The Keynote will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Dr Yusef Bakkali, a Stephen Lawrence Research Centre Legacy in Action Senior Research Fellow.

About the Chair and Panel

The Stephen Lawrence Research Centre Annual Lecture 2025