Mr Khalil was Peter Barlow's solicitor when he was formally charged and tried for the murder of Tina McIntyre in 2014.
In August of that year, Ken Barlow returned from a year away in Canada and heard for the first time about Peter's predicament. He visited his son in Highfield Prison where he saw that he had given up hope of anyone believing in his innocence and had sacked his duty solicitor. Ken met Mr Khalil at Nick's Bistro and asked him to take up his son's case. He said that he was only happy to do so if Peter instructed him himself but otherwise he was unable to do so. Ken pleaded with him but to no avail as it would be breaking the rules. Peter told Ken he was intending to plead guilty in the hope of a reduced sentence but unexpectedly it was Jim McDonald who persuaded him not to for Simon Barlow’s sake. The case went to trial in October with Mr Khalil duly appointed and instructing the defence barrister Miss Jones.
Whilst waiting for proceedings to begin the second day, he told Peter to try and look relaxed so that the jury didn’t interpret his nervous state as being guilty, though Miss Jones countered that he shouldn't look too relaxed as it looked like a sign of arrogance.
While waiting for the verdict on the fourth day, he told a desperately nervous Peter to try and stay positive. When they were advised that the jury had reached their decision, he told Peter that there were no hard and fast rules on a case like this as regards what the verdict might be as they made their way to the courtroom.
Peter was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of fifteen years but just a few weeks later Rob Donovan was unmasked as the real murderer and Peter was released.
List of appearances[]
2014