163 Malling Street, Lewes, BN7 2RB 01273 474743 Mon to Fri, 09:00 to 17:00 Out of hours 01733 709060 SRA 370883
Horsman Solicitors Lewes · criminal defence · since 1996 Call Lewes 01273 474743
Lewes, East Sussex · since 1996 · SRA 370883

A Sussex criminal-defence practice, on call at every police station, since 1996.

A Lewes firm founded by Andy Horsman (qualified 1996) and now run with Josie Sonnessa (qualified 2006, Higher Court Advocate, Crown Court department), from one head office at 163 Malling Street in the Cliffe district of Lewes. Eleven solicitors and advocates between us, on call at every Sussex police station 24 hours a day, taking the daily list at Brighton, Lewes, Hove and Chichester Magistrates’ and Crown Courts.

Call the Lewes office · 01273 474743 What we do
Since 1996 30 years of criminal defence on the Sussex coast
24 hours Duty solicitor on the out-of-hours line every night
Legal Aid Free representation at the police station, irrespective of income
SRA 370883 Recognised body since 1 November 2011
The Portland-stone Doric-columned facade of Lewes Crown Court on the High Street, built in 1812 by John Johnson, where the firm appears for trial and appeal.
Lewes Crown Court · High Street · built 1812 Where Josie Sonnessa runs our Crown Court department. Five minutes from the office.
Out of hours · 24/7 01733 709060

Reaches the Horsman Solicitors duty solicitor on rota, through our national overnight call-handling service. Always answers. Always a Horsman solicitor.

30 years on the Sussex criminal-defence scene
24/7 duty solicitor at every Sussex police station
4 Crown Courts: Lewes, Hove, Chichester, and the South of England when required
11 solicitors and advocates between the office and the courts
What we do at Lewes

Four lines of work, one continuous criminal-defence service.

Police-station, Magistrates, Crown Court and Higher Court Advocacy taken by the same Lewes-headquartered team. No briefing the file out cold to a freelance advocate on Monday morning. The face you meet in the custody suite is, where the case calls for it, the same face that stands up at trial.

24 hours a day, seven days a week

Police-station representation, across the whole of Sussex

Lewes, Brighton (Hollingbury and John Street), Crawley, Eastbourne, Hastings, Worthing. The office line answers in working hours. The out-of-hours line reaches the duty solicitor on rota at any other hour, by way of a national call-handling service. Police-station representation is free and independent regardless of income, paid by the Legal Aid Agency. Requesting our firm at the custody desk will not delay your time in custody, despite what officers sometimes suggest. Voluntary interviews handled on the same Legal Aid basis.

Andy Horsman manages the department

Magistrates’ Court advocacy across Sussex

Brighton, Lewes, Hove and Chichester Magistrates’ Courts; the youth courts; and proceedings before HMRC, Trading Standards, the Benefits Office and the DVLA where they sit alongside criminal allegations. Assault, theft, public order, motoring (drink and drug driving, totting-up, exceptional hardship, special-reasons applications), drug possession, low-volume fraud, environmental and animal welfare prosecutions. Cathy Walker, Salome Verrell, Ramin Shamsolahi, Jennifer Law, Andrew Foreman and Sam Malekshahi cover the daily list.

Josie Sonnessa manages the department

Crown Court trial and appeal

Lewes Crown Court (the 1812 Doric-columned Portland-stone building on the High Street), Hove (Brighton) Crown Court, Chichester Crown Court, and Crown Courts across the South of England when the case calls for it. Conspiracy, fraud, POCA confiscation, firearms, serious violence, sexual offences and homicide. Every file prepared in-house from day one. Counsel instructed from our own in-house advocacy bench led by senior barrister Tom Nicholson-Pratt when a separate advocate is required.

Continuity of advocate

Higher Court Advocacy, in house

Three of our solicitors hold Higher Court Rights of Audience for criminal proceedings: Josie Sonnessa, Michael Weeks and Mark Charnley. The point is continuity: the face you first see in the custody suite under the Sussex Police ceiling lights at three in the morning is, where the case calls for it, the same face that stands up in Court 1 at Lewes Crown Court eighteen months later. No Monday-morning hand-off to an unfamiliar barrister, no client repeating their instructions to a stranger.

Since 1996

A Lewes practice built around the police station, and the cases that follow.

Andy Horsman qualified as a solicitor in 1996 and established his own criminal-defence practice on the Sussex coast in the same decade. The trading vehicle was reincorporated as a limited company at Companies House in September 2002, renamed Horsman Solicitors Ltd in April 2011, and recognised as a regulated body by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in November of that same year under SRA 370883.

In April 2024 Josie Sonnessa, Higher Court Advocate and Crown Court department lead, returned to the directorship after a two-year sabbatical, restoring the firm to the two-director structure that runs it today. Eleven solicitors and advocates between us at the last count, all working out of one head office at 163 Malling Street in the Cliffe district of Lewes, on call at every Sussex police station 24 hours a day.

The work is criminal-defence at every stage: police-station representation as the spine, Magistrates’ Court advocacy as the daily list, Crown Court trial and appeal when the case calls for it, and in-house Higher Court Advocacy that keeps the same face on the case from custody suite to verdict. Legal Aid is the default funding model, not the exception.

“Requesting our solicitors at police stations will NOT delay your time in custody, as the Police may suggest.”

Horsman Solicitors · /magistrates-court
Timeline
  1. 1996

    Andy Horsman qualifies as a solicitor and establishes a criminal defence practice in the 1990s, focused on the police-station work and the Magistrates’ courts of the Sussex coast.

  2. 2002

    On 11 September 2002 the firm is reincorporated as a private limited company at Companies House (number 04532780), with Andy Horsman as director and Helen Horsman appointed company secretary the following month.

  3. 2011

    On 12 April 2011 the company is renamed Horsman Solicitors Ltd. On 1 November 2011 the Solicitors Regulation Authority grants the firm Recognised Body status under SRA 370883.

  4. 2017

    Josie Sonnessa is appointed director, having qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and as a Higher Court Advocate in the years since. She takes over the Crown Court department.

  5. 2022

    Mark Charnley returns to the South Coast after twenty years practising in Cornwall and joins the firm, adding a third Higher Court Advocate to the bench. Sam Malekshahi joins the same year to manage the police-station rota.

  6. 2024

    On 1 April 2024 Josie Sonnessa returns to the directorship after a two-year sabbatical, restoring the two-director structure that runs the firm today.

  7. 2026 · today

    30 years since Andy Horsman established the firm in the 1990s. A team of eleven across Lewes, Brighton, Crawley, Eastbourne, Hastings and Worthing, on call at every Sussex police station 24 hours a day.

The team at the front

Four of the solicitors and advocates you will meet.

Each name below is on the SRA register against Horsman Solicitors Ltd. Eleven solicitors and advocates in total between the office and the in-house bench.

Managing Director, Magistrates Court department Andrew Charles Horsman Qualified 1996. SRA 370883 director since 2002.

Founded the firm in the 1990s after qualifying as a solicitor in 1996. Manages the Magistrates Court department covering Brighton, Lewes, Hove and Chichester. Best known in the Brighton criminal-defence community for his police-station work and for the consistency with which the same Lewes-headquartered solicitor turns up at every stage from custody-suite interview to sentencing.

Director, Higher Court Advocate, Crown Court department Josie Sonnessa Qualified 2006. Higher Court Rights, Criminal. Director since 2017 and again from 2024.

Manages the Crown Court department from Lewes. Highly regarded by Crown Court Judges for personally preparing every case file rather than briefing it out cold to a freelance barrister on the morning of trial. Returned to the directorship in April 2024 after a two-year sabbatical, making Horsman a two-director firm again.

Solicitor, Higher Court Advocate Mark Charnley Qualified 1990 as Solicitor, 2010 as Higher Court Advocate.

Returned to the South Coast after twenty years in Cornwall and joined the firm in 2022. Three decades of trial advocacy across the indictable list, with particular experience of long-running Crown Court matters where the same advocate runs the case from arraignment to verdict.

Solicitor, Higher Court Advocate Michael Weeks Qualified 1978. Higher Court Advocate (Reading).

Originally practised in East Sussex, qualified as a Higher Court Advocate in Reading, and rejoined the South Coast bench at Horsman in 2017. Forty-eight years on the criminal-defence side of the room and counting.

Where we appear

Three Lewes addresses, three stages of a single case.

From the head office on Malling Street, through the daily list at Lewes Magistrates’, to the Doric-columned 1812 Crown Court on the High Street where Josie Sonnessa runs the trial bench.

The Portland-stone Doric-columned facade of Lewes Crown Court on the High Street, built 1812 by John Johnson.
Lewes Crown Court High Street · Crown Court trial and appeal
The 1980s Lewes Magistrates Court building, on the site of the first Lewes railway station of 1846.
Lewes Magistrates’ Court Friars Walk · the daily Sussex list
A view down Malling Street, Lewes, the eastern continuation of Cliffe High Street where the firm has its head office.
163 Malling Street BN7 2RB · the Lewes head office
The specialism

One firm, from custody suite to verdict.

The criminal-defence service we run is deliberately continuous. The solicitor who first reads the Custody Record under the police-station ceiling lights at three in the morning is, where the case calls for it, the same advocate who cross-examines the officer-in-the-case at Lewes Crown Court eighteen months later. No Monday-morning hand-off to an unfamiliar barrister. No client repeating their instructions to a stranger at the courthouse steps.

Three of our solicitors hold Higher Court Rights of Audience for criminal proceedings (Josie Sonnessa, Michael Weeks, Mark Charnley). Counsel are instructed from our own in-house advocacy bench, led by senior barrister Tom Nicholson-Pratt, when a separate advocate is required for trial. Either way, the file does not leave the building.

Two procedural commitments at the custody desk worth knowing: requesting our firm will not delay your time in custody (despite what officers sometimes suggest); and police-station representation is free and independent of income, paid by the Legal Aid Agency to anyone in police custody who asks for a solicitor.

Get in touch

Tell us the bones of it, in confidence.

For police-station and out-of-hours matters, please call the office line or the out-of-hours number directly. Time is critical and a form is too slow. For Magistrates’ or Crown Court matters where the first hearing is not today, the form below reaches Andy Horsman directly and we will reply within one working day.

If you are currently in police custody, ask the custody sergeant to call us on 01273 474743 during office hours or 01733 709060 at any other time. The police have a duty to make the call promptly. Asking for our firm will not delay your time in custody.

Thank you. Andy will reply within one working day. For anything time-critical please call 01273 474743 during office hours or 01733 709060 at any other time.

Visit the office

163 Malling Street, in the Cliffe district of Lewes.

The office sits on the eastern continuation of Cliffe High Street, one block east of the Cliffe Bridge over the River Ouse. Until the late 1970s the A26 ran straight along Malling Street; today it is the quieter mixed-use stretch a five-minute walk east of the bridge.

163 Malling Street, Lewes BN7 2RB. One block east of Cliffe Bridge. Open in Google Maps ↗
Frequently asked

The questions clients ask in the first call.

I have been arrested or asked to attend a voluntary interview at a Sussex police station. What do I do now?

Telephone the office on 01273 474743 during working hours and ask for the duty solicitor. Outside working hours the out-of-hours number is 01733 709060 and reaches the duty solicitor directly through our national overnight call-handling service. Tell the custody sergeant or the interviewing officer you wish to be represented by Horsman Solicitors. There is no charge for the initial police-station representation if the matter is covered by Legal Aid, which is granted automatically to anyone in police custody.

Will asking for your firm at the custody desk keep me in custody for longer?

No. Requesting our solicitors at the police station will not delay your time in custody, despite what some custody sergeants or interviewing officers may suggest. The police have a duty to make the call promptly. If the duty solicitor on rota is unavailable, our out-of-hours line routes to the next available solicitor on the firm’s own rota, not to an external duty pool.

What is the 01733 number? Is your office in Peterborough?

No. Our only office is at 163 Malling Street, Lewes, BN7 2RB. The 01733 prefix on the out-of-hours line is a national call-handling number that routes through to whichever Horsman Solicitors duty solicitor is on rota for that night. Calling it always reaches us; it never reaches a third-party duty pool. We publish it as a separate number from the office line so that a single call can reach a real solicitor at any hour of the night or weekend.

Do you take Legal Aid work, or only privately funded work?

Both. Police-station representation is free and independent regardless of income, paid by the Legal Aid Agency. Magistrates Court and Crown Court representation may also be Legal Aid funded subject to the Agency’s means and merits tests. We complete the financial paperwork with you at the first appointment and explain in writing, before any chargeable work begins, whether the matter will run on Legal Aid or on private funding.

Which courts do you appear at?

Magistrates’ Courts at Brighton, Lewes, Hove and Chichester, plus the Sussex youth courts. Crown Courts at Lewes (the 1812 Portland-stone building on the High Street), Hove (Brighton) and Chichester. Police stations across the whole of Sussex 24 hours a day. The same firm runs your case from the police-station interview through Magistrates’, committal, Crown Court trial, sentence and any appeal, with the same advocate where possible.

How do I find the office, and where can I park?

163 Malling Street is the eastern continuation of Cliffe High Street, one block east of the Cliffe Bridge over the River Ouse. Until the late 1970s the A26 ran straight along Malling Street; today it is the quieter mixed-use stretch a five-minute walk east of the bridge. Short-stay on-street parking is available on Malling Street itself; the nearest long-stay car park is Cliffe Industrial Estate (BN8 6JL), an eight-minute walk. Lewes railway station is a ten-minute walk west across the bridge.