Neil Lennon Was Not Assaulted by the Man Who Admitted Assaulting Him!

Lawyers are often sceptical of media reports of court cases where the media express shock at the decision of a judge or jury. The view amongst the legal profession is that, without having seen and heard all of the evidence, and legal submissions in the case, one cannot offer a properly informed opinion. It is generally not especially constructive to comment upon a court case based only upon the limited reports of proceedings in the newspapers and on television.

However, every once in a while there comes a case where even lawyers will say “What the @#%* happened there??!!”

One such reached a verdict today, in the case against John Wilson, heard before a jury at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Mr Wilson faced charges that, at a Hearts v Celtic match last season, he had assaulted Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, and had caused a breach of the peace “by conducting himself in a disorderly manner, running onto the field during the match, running at the away team dug out, shouting, swearing, making a sectarian remark, all to the alarm and annoyance of others and causing further disturbance within the crowd” and that both offences were aggravated by religious prejudice.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty on the charge of breach of the peace, with the sectarian element removed, and not proven on the assault charge.

Bearing in mind that the incident had been seen by several thousand spectators at the ground, by hundreds of thousands on television, and by large numbers on the Internet, it seemed astonishing that Mr Wilson was contesting the charges at all!

That surprise however was overtaken by shock at the jury’s verdict. How could this happen?

 

The “perverse” jury is an age old phenomenon.  John Liliburne was acquitted by a jury in 1649 on a charge of High Treason for his opposition to Oliver Cromwell, despite the clear direction of the court that he should be convicted. In Bushel’s Case in 1670  Edward Bushel had previously been a juror in the trail of the Quakers’ founder, William Penn. The jury had returned a verdict with which the judge had disagreed. The judge proceeded to “punish” the jurors, imprisoning and fining them. Bushel stood against this, and it was ruled that a jury could not be punished for the verdict it returned.

Even in recent years, such as in the case of Clive Ponting,  who had admitted passing on “secrets” to Tam Dalyell, MP, juries have stood against what they consider to be oppressive behaviour by the State. Mr Ponting was effectively guilty of a “Strict liability” offence under the Official Secrets Act 1911. The judge at his trial in 1985 was minded to take the case out of the jury’s hands as no legal defence existed. However the prosecution, perhaps concerned by political implications of a conviction without the jury “rubber stamping” the verdict, insisted that the matter should be put to them. Despite directions that there was no defence, the jury acquitted Mr Ponting.

It might seem strange to cite these important cases in connection with that of Mr Wilson. This, at first, seems more akin to a recent case before a jury in a Scottish court where the accused faced two charges. The Sheriff directed that he could be convicted of either, or of none, but not of both. After long consideration, the jury returned to court to seek the Sheriff’s assistance. Could they convict the man on both charges, as that was what they were minded to do? The Sheriff repeated the direction that it was one conviction, or none. After a further short break, and as the clock ticked past 5.30pm, the jury returned. A “Not Proven” verdict was delivered on both charges! The legal process puts itself in peril if it prevents a Scottish jury getting its dinner on time!

 

Already the theories regarding Mr Wilson’s jury being packed with Hearts’ fans or Rangers’ fans are doing the rounds. But comments by David Nicolson, Mr Wilson’s excellent defence counsel, seem perhaps to make the mystery clearer. He is quoted as having said in court that his client had earlier been willing to plead guilty to breach of the peace and assault under deletion of making a sectarian remark and being aggravated by religious prejudice, but the Crown had not accepted his plea.

On that basis, as an acceptable plea could not be agreed, the case had to proceed to trial.

From the evidence reported, it seems that there was only one witness who spoke in support of the “sectarian remark” allegation. As a consequence it could be argued that there was never any prospect of a conviction on that basis, and the jury, it would appear, seemed to decide to “punish” the prosecution by not convicting the man for an assault he had effectively admitted!

 

Why would the prosecution have taken such a stance, with the consequences it appears to have had?

As has been made repeatedly clear by successive Scottish administrations, there are certain types of criminal offence which are of particular concern and which the police and prosecuting authorities focus on stamping out. Offences motivated by prejudice, such as those aggravated by racial or sectarian hatred, domestic violence, and knife crime are all areas where the decision has been taken that extra effort is required to reduce, or even end, these blights on our society.

As a result, prosecutors have been given ever more strict guidelines as to how to deal with cases where there is one of these elements alleged to play a part. This can mean that prosecutors no longer have discretion, on a local basis, to remove such a part of a charge, without clearance from Crown Office in Edinburgh.

 

The net effect, as we see here with Mr Wilson, is that cases go to trial which really ought not to, and verdicts are arrived at which, frankly, make the Scottish justice system look ridiculous. The jury’s decision vindicates that plea of not guilty tendered by Mr Wilson’s legal team.

To an extent, one can sympathise with the Crown Office who must feel that they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Only last week they were criticised  for not acknowledging a racial element in the killing of Mr Simon San.

 

However, it is clear amongst criminal defence lawyers that the approach taken by the Crown Office regarding these matters has resulted in verdicts which seem perverse, with victims having to give evidence in cases where they really ought not to have to, and to substantial additional costs in terms of court expense and Legal Aid. One of the vital elements of the Scottish criminal justice system has always been the discretion given to each local Procurator Fiscal, often deciding how to deal with cases “in the public interest” having taken account of local circumstances and conditions. A “one size fits all” approach is not the best here, I feel.

And also the insistence on the part of the Crown that the religious/sectarian aggravations stayed as part of the charges simply confirms what the late Sheriff John Fitzsimons discussed many years ago at a session for Dumbarton Faculty solicitors, where he was speaking about the difference between “racially aggravated offences” and “offences racially aggravated”. These “hate crime” aggravations have now been extended to other areas, as mentioned above, but the late Sheriff felt that these semantic distinctions, which were important as far as disposal of a case was concerned, were confusing enough for the Sheriffs, never mind the jurors who might be required to consider them in serious cases.

 

The chickens have come home to roost today and Mr Wilson has benefited, as far as his verdict goes anyway, from the apparent insistence of the Crown to have a sectarian element attached to his conviction, perhaps especially as this incident formed part of the shameful sequence of events surrounding football earlier this year which caused the SNP Ministers to promote the flawed Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill and had the First Minister referring to the “cancer” of sectarianism.

We now have a man who undoubtedly was guilty of an assault, aggravated by the circumstances in which it took place, cleared of that offence. This makes the campaign against the curse of sectarianism seem lacklustre.

 

Hopefully it will not provoke the Justice Secretary into deciding that the Bill referred to above should be revised to make it easier to gain such convictions.

Instead it would be better if the level of Procurator Fiscal independence, within the Crown Office framework as was the case of old, could be restored.

If not, I suspect we will see continuing cases where apparently ridiculous verdicts are returned, and whilst this is a good thing for newspapers and bloggers with space to fill, it undermines and demeans the whole justice system.

Is the Daily Mail Website Guilty of Contempt of Court?

I have attached below an article from the Daily Mail website published on 26^th August. I do not know, at this stage, if the newspaper has printed the same piece, and the photograph which may lead to the journalist or editor involved appearing in court for contempt.

I have copied it into Word to include in this post. The article, subject to what I will mention, is as it stood at 7.30 am on 27^th August 2011. As I do not have the technical ability to do so, none of the photographs in the piece are included below, but as it is one of the photos which causes the issue, then I do not think this causes a problem for me.

I have removed the links on the page to various other pages in the site (which on looking at the page are those links and photos down the right hand side).

The location of the photograph which causes me to write this piece is marked “PHOTO REMOVED”.

The address for the article is noted at the bottom of the piece.

 

As the reader can see, this relates to the alleged attack on Nick Clegg in Glasgow on 25^th August. Stuart Rodger appeared in Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, in private charged with assault. He made no plea or declaration and was admitted to bail.

The article includes a picture of the man stated to be Stuart Rodger leaving court. Whilst it is common to see photographs in newspapers of people accused of crimes, and indeed offences far more serious than allegedly throwing a paint-filled egg at the Deputy Prime Minister and police officers (serious though that may be).

 

What might the Daily Mail have done wrong?

The big problem is that this relates to an offence being dealt with by the Scottish courts. In England the rules regarding such publication are very different. Perhaps the Daily Mail has not noticed where this case is taking place? I wonder if they have a difficulty with geography?

Because of the different rules applicable in Scotland, including that of “dock identification”, the law has been for many years that it is not permissible to publish the photograph of an accused person, referring to the case against them, whilst proceedings are active. This applies unless, in a very rare case, the judge permits such publication, as in the trial of Tommy Sheridan last year. A judge might accede to requests from the media to permit publication of photographs where identification of the accused is not an issue in the case.

Otherwise, photographs of an accused are not published until a verdict is reached, or, in jury cases, until the evidence is complete.

The purpose of the rule is to prevent evidence of witnesses as to identification of an accused being tainted by their having seen pictures of the accused linking them to the alleged offence.

 

The matter is governed by the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and the law in Scotland has been explained in various cases.

In the Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail v Procurator Fiscal, Edinburgh [2009] HCJAC 24  the High Court reviewed the law on this matter in detail. The newspapers in question had been fined for contempt of court for publishing the picture, during the trial, of a well-known footballer charged with assault. The newspapers appealed against the finding of contempt, but were unsuccessful.

Lord Nimmo-Smith delivered the court’s opinion, including a reference to various cases and particularly to HM Advocate v Caledonian Newspapers Ltd 1995 SCCR 330 which is considered to be the leading case concerning publication of pictures of an accused, and contempt.

In that case Lord Justice General Hope (as he then was) said the following:-

 

“Had it not been for the publication of the photograph, we would have been able to hold that in this case … there was no breach of the strict liability rule. The question would then have been whether there was anything in the text that the course of justice in these proceedings would be seriously impeded or prejudiced.

“We do not agree with [counsel for the respondents] that the strict liability rule imposes a very high test in regard to a publication of the kind referred to in section 2 while the proceedings in question are active. In Attorney-General v English [1983] AC 116 at p142 Lord Diplock said that the words “substantial risk” were intended to exclude a risk that is only remote. In HM Advocate v News Group Newspapers Limited 1989 SCCR 156 at p161F Lord Justice-General Emslie said that there can be no contempt unless there is some risk, greater than a minimal one, that the proceedings would be seriously prejudiced. Nor can the publisher pray in aid steps which may be taken afterwards by the court to minimise the risk of prejudice resulting from a publication which would seriously impede or prejudice the proceedings if these steps were not taken. As Lord Diplock pointed out in the passage already quoted from his speech in Attorney-General v English, the public policy that underlines the strict liability rule is that of deterrence. The court must do what it can to minimise the risk of prejudice, because it is in the public interest that proceedings for the detection and punishment of crime should not be interrupted by the effect on the course of justice of publicity. The purpose of the rule is to make the taking of such steps unnecessary, by deterring the publication in the first place of anything which might create risk of such prejudice. The risk must be assessed at the time of the publication without regard to what may happen or may be done afterwards.

…

“The publication of the photograph … so close in time and place to the incident referred to in the petition in the charges of assault and robbery and of assault and attempted robbery, raises the question whether, when taken together with the article, this may have affected the position of witnesses.”

…

“Consequently a contempt will be committed if the publication of the article is likely to affect the evidence of witnesses in the question of identification. In Atkins v London Weekend Television at page 53 Lord Justice-General Emslie accepted the proposition for the broadcasters that there is no hard and fast rule that the publication of the photograph of an accused person will always constitute contempt. He said that it will only do so when a question of identification has arisen or may arise and when the publication is calculated to prejudice the prospects of a fair trial: see also Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No. 3) [1992] 1 WLR 874, per Mann LJ at p879H. The test, in regard to the strict liability rule under section 2 of the 1981 Act with which we are concerned in this case, is whether the publication of the photograph created a substantial risk that the course of justice in the proceedings would be seriously prejudiced.

“In a case where identification is not in issue, the publication of a photograph of the accused is unlikely to give rise to any risk of prejudice, because the evidence of witnesses will not be at risk of being affected by its publication. Nor will the jury be affected by it either, because it will not relate to any issue which they will have to decide. But where identification is or may be in issue the situation is entirely different. The publication of the photograph, linking the name of the accused to the offence with which he is charged, may assist witnesses in their identification of him as the perpetrator of it. The closer in time and place this is to the publication of the photograph, the greater the risk that this will occur. Similarly the publication of a photograph of the perpetrator in this way may affect the jury’s determination of the issue of identification at the trial. The closer the trial is to the date of the publication the greater will be the risk of this.” (Emphases added.)

 

Lord Nimmo Smith, after considering the submissions of counsel for the Daily Record & Sunday Mail concluded by saying:-

 

“Where identification is in issue, publication of a photograph of the accused that gives rise to the possibility, not remote and greater than minimal, that it may affect the ability of a witness or witnesses to identify the accused, will constitute contempt of court within the meaning of section 2(2) of the 1981 Act.

“Fame, celebrity – its often tawdry modern counterpart – and notoriety all carry with them the possibility of recognition by members of the public. It may be that a person will be so well known that mere mention of his or her name may be expected to bring an image to the minds of the vast majority of members of the public. But such cases will be rare. We find it impossible to accept that there are categories of person, such as footballers, of whom it may be said, a priori and without other evidence, that they are “celebrities”, attracting instant recognition and recall both on and off the pitch, so that an exception can be made in respect of them without regard to the circumstances of any particular case. Recognition of a person is a notoriously subtle process, one which is best described by psychologists; but our own experience in the criminal courts justifies this description. It is common experience that one may fail to recognise a person, familiar in a particular context, when seen out of context. The only safe course, where identification is in issue, is not to publish any photograph or similar image of the accused, at least until a stage of the trial when there is no question of further identification evidence being given.

…

“In our opinion, the proper approach is that already well recognised in the Scottish cases, passages from which we have quoted above. There may be cases in which publication of the photograph of an accused person may not give rise to a risk of substantial prejudice, but such cases are likely to be rare; and we are satisfied that this is not one of them. In our view, therefore, treating the standard of proof as proof beyond reasonable doubt, the sheriff correctly held that the petitioners were in the circumstances in contempt of court by publishing the photograph…” (Emphases added)

 

What Now?

The Daily Mail website, both on its front page and in the article shown below, displays a picture of the man they refer to as Mr Rodger. This was published one day after the alleged incident. Identification may well be an issue at any trial. At this stage Mr Rodger has neither pled guilty nor not guilty. He is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

I cannot see how this case differs from those referred to above and therefore one might expect that the Daily Mail will have to answer a charge of contempt.

On a related point, I note that comments are open. Usually the Daily Mail does not permit comment on ongoing cases, for fear, I am sure, of prejudicing a fair trial. How long might it take them to disable comments on this piece?

It is possible that the media have asked for permission from the Sheriff to print pictures but I would be very surprised, especially as Mr Rodger’s appearance was in private. I would also be surprised if, at this stage, a Sheriff would permit such a publication, if asked.

Let’s see (a) if the article changes and the picture is removed (b) whether, in the event of such a change, the article refers to the change (c) what steps the Daily Mail takes to “purge” its apparent contempt and (d) whether contempt proceedings do arise.

 

 

DAILY MAIL ARTICLE BELOW

Saturday, Aug 27 2011 6AM  9°C 9AM 13°C 5-Day Forecast

Ex-Lib Dem member appears in court charged with throwing blue paint at Nick Clegg

By Lucy Buckland

Last updated at 7:00 PM on 26th August 2011

• Comments (0)
• Add to My Stories
• Share 

 

PHOTO REMOVED

Bailed: Stuart Rodger waves to crowds outside Glasgow Sheriff Court after his court appearance

A man appeared in court charged with assault today after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was splattered with blue paint.

The Liberal Democrat leader was splashed with paint during talks with grassroots party representatives in Glasgow last night.

Mr Clegg later made light of the incident, saying it was ‘no big deal’.

This afternoon, Stuart Rodger, 22, from Inverkeithing, Fife, appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court in connection with the alleged attack.

He faces charges of assault by throwing an egg filled with paint at Mr Clegg and three police officers.

Rodger is accused of throwing the egg which struck Mr Clegg ‘on the body’ in Glenfarg Street, Glasgow, yesterday.

Rodger made no plea and no declaration and was granted bail.

The case was continued for further examination and a date is yet to be set.

More…

• Clegg’s direct challenge to Cameron as he promises to defend human rights laws
• Feeling blue? Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg attacked with paint by angry voter
• Nick Clegg stands up for ‘hugely positive’ human rights laws

Mr Clegg was at the meeting at Woodside Hall in the west of the city as part of a tour of the UK.

Rodger is believed to be a former Liberal Democrat member and it is understood he left the party after the last general election.

_

PHOTO NOT SHOWN

Feeling blue: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg pictured in Scotland the day before the alleged assault

PHOTO NOT SHOWN_

Scene: A policeman stands guard outside Woodside Halls, traces of blue paint are still visible on the concrete column

Carol Shedden, of Real Radio Scotland, who had been waiting to interview Mr Clegg, said of the incident: ‘One half of his face was completely covered in blue paint.

‘People rushed to his aid to wipe it off but there were still traces of the paint on his clothing – it was quite a welcome to Glasgow.

‘He just said, “these things do happen in the job. It’s no big deal”.’

PHOTO NOT SHOWN_

Swift response: Police at the scene yesterday
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030574/Ex-Lib-Dem-member-appears-court-charged-throwing-blue-paint-Nick-Clegg.html#ixzz1WCwTT7pP

Should Mr Al-Megrahi Be Sent Back to Prison? Newsnight and the Curious Thoughts of Geoffrey Robertson QC

Libya is in chaos and Mr Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, the man convicted of murder in connection with the Lockerbie bombing, cannot be found. Politicians here and in the USA are calling for him to be extradited or sent back to prison.

Newsnight Scotland decided it would be useful to debate the issue with the assistance of two QCs, Gordon Jackson and Geoffrey Robertson. After a brief report including Nick Clegg saying  that he would prefer Mr Al-Megrahi to be back in prison, the 24^th August edition went back to the studio for the discussion. Mr Robertson took the lead.

What followed did a disservice to the viewers, and makes one wonder how Newsnight Scotland chose its guests (or one of them at least).

 

Geoffrey Robertson QC is one of the most eminent and well known lawyers in Britain. The catalogue of famous and ground-breaking cases in which he has been involved is long and his reputation is rightly illustrious. He is also a man who has been willing to serve, having been one of the judges in the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone for some years and a Distinguished Jurist Member of the United Nations Internal Justice Council since 2008.

As his biography on his website states, he has appeared “as leading counsel in over 200 reported cases, many in the European Court of Human Rights, the House of Lords, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Privy Council, with appearances in the Courts of Appeal of Singapore, Trinidad, the Eastern Caribbean, Malawi, Florida and appearances in various courts in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Mauritius, Malaysia, Anguilla, Antigua, in the World Bank Arbitration Court (ICSID) and in the Revolutionary Military Tribunal of Mozambique.”

He is a prolific author, and his The Tyrannicide Brief, about John Cooke, the lawyer who prosecuted King Charles I, is a masterful book, emphasising the rule of law, and the fact that even monarchs and rulers are bound to follow the law. I would heartily recommend that book to any reader, lawyer and non-lawyer alike.

One might think that having such a distinguished legal mind available to take part in the debate was a chance not to be missed. There was only one problem. Mr Robertson’s list of countries and courts where he has acted does not include Scotland. As far as I am aware, Mr Robertson, not being a member of the Scottish Bar, has never appeared in our courts.

 

As a very wise and clever man, I am sure he is more than capable of understanding points of Scots Law, but this Newsnight appearance did not demonstrate that. Why did Newsnight Scotland feel that, other than Gordon Jackson QC, there were no other lawyers practising in Scotland worth having on? Perhaps the answer is that they could not find any Scots lawyers to disagree with the position adopted, correctly I believe, by Mr Jackson. Perhaps the chance to have such a famous name as Mr Robertson on meant that Newsnight did not ask any other Scots lawyers. Was this a decision by Newsnight that there required to be “balance” even if that meant balancing the wrong view with the right view?

 

The Lallands Peat Worrier had done the hard work of writing about the legislation dealing with the question of compassionate release, and what the rules were governing any possible recall to prison. I commend his post to all readers. He made clear that, in terms of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993, Mr Al-Megrahi could only be recalled to prison under s17(a) if either of the following took place: (i) if the Parole Board recommended that the Justice Secretary recall him; or (ii) if the Justice Secretary decided that it was expedient in the public interest to revoke the licence and recall him to prison and it was not practicable for the Justice Secretary to await a Parole Board recommendation.

Mr Robertson did not trouble himself to make reference to these rules and he launched himself into the fray, with almost everything he said being incorrect in some way. My thoughts on Mr Robertson’s comments are in italics below.

 

First of all, despite it being a discussion about Mr Al-Megrahi, Mr Robertson started with Colonel Gaddafi, stating that there was “increased evidence” to show that the Libyan leader (or former leader, depending on when this is read) “gave orders to Mr Al-Megrahi to blow up the jet”. He later stated that the former Libyan Justice Minister had stated that he had proof of this.

                    Professor Black, on his Lockerbie Case Blog, noted that this proof, whist promised, had still to emerge.

 

He commented that Mr Al-Megrahi had had a fair trial “before eight judges”.

                    Many observers and commentators do not accept that the outcome of the trial was fair at all. Whilst the issue of Mr Al-Megrahi’s guilt or innocence  is not relevant, legally, to any question of recall (in law he is a convicted murderer the matter of his involvement remains at issue, as the Justice Form Megrahi campaign pursues its quest for a full inquiry into the atrocity.

                    The trial of course was before three judges with a further five hearing the appeal. There were a number of areas not explored at the trial or appeal, which are, apparently, identified by the as yet unpublished report by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.

 

He felt that “the country” should fulfil the promise made by Robin Cook, when Foreign Secretary, to Madeleine Allbright, who was the US Secretary of State, that Mr Al-Megrahi would serve 27 years in prison.

                    If Mr Cook did make such a promise, then he had no authority to do so. The matter of Mr Al-Megrahi’s release was one for the Scottish Courts, in connection with his appeal and the Crown appeal that the sentence was too lenient, or for the Scottish Ministers, not the UK Foreign Secretary. In any event, the reason for Mr Al-Megrahi’s release was his ill health and imminent death, not any assessment that he had tholed his assize.

 

He referred to the “extraordinary behaviour” of the Minister (presumably Mr MacAskill) who had been “conned by doctors paid by Libya” into accepting that the prisoner had only three months to live. He said that the doctors had been so wrong in their diagnoses that their findings should be questioned and that there had to be a proper examination by independent doctors.

                    Whilst one of the medical experts who provided comment upon Mr Al-Megrahi’s condition was an expert engaged on Libya’s behalf (and in a situation like this there is nothing wrong with a person hiring their own expert to offer an opinion) Mr MacAskill has always made it clear that the medical advice he considered was that from the Chief Medical Officer of the Scottish Prison Service. The suggestion that doctors “conned” the Justice Secretary is one which seems clearly defamatory, and it would not surprise me if the members of the medical profession involved took the matter further.

                    The implication of what he said was that Mr Al-Megrahi was either not terminally ill at all, or if he was, that his prognosis was far longer than three months .In either event, this is a serious allegation to make, and I suspect one that the learned gentleman had not thought through. His comments amounted to a suggestion that the medical experts deployed for the Libyan had produced reports not based upon their medical expertise, but instead influenced by their paymaster.

                    “Independent” doctors have already determined the position of Mr Al-Megrahi. The fact that a change of location in returning to his homeland and family, and an apparent new treatment regimen has extended his life beyond what was predicted is not, in my view, a cause for re-incarceration, and indeed the legislation does not see it as such when dealing with a “long-term prisoner”.

 

He pointed out, with reference to Mr Al-Megrahi’s recent appearance at a pro-Gaddafi rally, that if he was demonstrating in favour of his leader when he was on probation, that was wrong.

                    The Scottish Ministers have helpfully made a copy of Mr Al-Megrahi’s licence available to all. As Mr Jackson pointed out, there is nothing there which precludes an appearance at a rally, and, as Mr Jackson went on to say, how likely was it that Mr Al-Megrahi could have refused to attend if told to by Colonel Gaddafi.

 

Mr Robertson then referred to the application in 2009 made by Mr Al-Megrahi’s lawyers for bail due to his ill-health, which was refused by the High Court who, according to Mr Robertson, said that if Mr Al-Megrahi was sufficiently unwell, he should go to a “bail hostel” in Scotland.

                    This was on the premise that his appeal was continuing and was not connected to the matter of compassionate release from his sentence. Whilst the compassionate release granted could have required Mr Al-Megrahi, as a condition of his licence, to reside in Scotland, the medical evidence specifically referred to the benefits for him in returning home.

 

 

He then returned to Colonel Gaddafi, saying that he expected him to end up strung up from a lamppost, but that if he was captured, there would be an argument about whether Scotland or France would prosecute him first, as each would have the right to seek his transfer from the International Criminal Court in the Hague before the Colonel was tried at the ICC. I would not be surprised if the USA, and various other nations, thought they had grounds for seeking to prosecute him.

As the discussion neared the end, he went back to Mr Al-Megrahi, stating that it was “bewildering” that the “Scottish Probation Office” had not recalled Mr Al-Megrahi for breach of his licence, and that there should be legal proceedings taken to force them “to do their duty”.

                    As Mr Jackson had already pointed out (and the initial report by Julie Peacock had said) it did not appear that the licence conditions had been broken, so far. One reason why the “Scottish Probation Office” had taken no action is that such a body does not exist, nor indeed is Mr Al-Megrahi on probation. His situation, having been released, is monitored by East Renfrewshire Council. I would be interested to know who Mr Robertson thinks should be taking this legal action. Perhaps he might care to initiate it himself, if he feels so strongly about it?

 

It was not fair that Mr MacAskill had not met with the relatives of the dead but he had met with Mr Al-Megrahi before reaching the conclusion that the Libyan would be dead within three months.

                    The Justice Secretary did not reach any conclusion about Mr Al-Megrahi’s condition. He relied upon the expert medical witnesses for that purpose, as is right to do. Whilst there have been questions about the release, as Mr Jackson said, that was not what was being talked about now.

 

He concluded by stating that, if Mr Salmond and his Justice Secretary “had any guts, they would re-visit their earlier decision” to release Mr Al-Megrahi.

                    Here again Mr Robertson failed to get the point. There is no scope to “revisit” the decision to release Mr Al-Megrahi. That has happened. Instead the question is whether or not there are conditions satisfying the legal requirements for the licence to be revoked and a recall to prison ordered. As has been said elsewhere, it is not a breach of his licence to fail to die on schedule! Mr Al-Megrahi’s lawyer, Professor Tony Kelly, would undoubtedly act in the best interests of his client by challenging any decision to recall his client, if there was any scope for so doing. As matters stand, no grounds for recall exist, and the demands of American Senators and UK politicians have no place in that decision.

 

In contrast Mr Jackson sat in the studio talking nothing but sense. He seemed to have a rather world-weary air as he listened to Mr Robertson and tried to correct his errors. Mr Jackson pointed out that, in theory, it was possible, if the conditions referred top above were fulfilled, that Mr Al-Megrahi could be recalled to prison, but he saw that as extremely unlikely. It was not going to happen.  He told the presenter that the issues of Mr Al-Megrahi’s release two years ago had nothing to do with the question of revocation of his licence now.

Perhaps there was a problem with the link to Mr Robertson in London, because he repeatedly sought to talk over Mr Jackson, which is not an easy task to accomplish!

There is clearly great public interest in this issue. Mr Al-Megrahi stands convicted of a heinous crime and it appears that there are people looking for him to remove him from Libya.

However this debate was not helped by one of the contributors having no knowledge at all, it seemed, of the relevant legal rules applicable to the matter at hand. This could be contrasted with the later appearance on the programme of Lord Foulkes to discuss the differing university tuition fees charged in Scotland depending on the domicile of the student. His Lordship, notwithstanding a distinguished career in the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Scottish Parliament, is not a lawyer. Legal niceties might understandably escape him.

Mr Robertson however does not have that excuse. His failure to acknowledge the “rule of law” in this matter is surprising given his very public stance regarding that doctrine over the years, and the rights people have to protect them from the vagaries or abuses of State power. I suspect John Cooke would not be demanding Mr Al-Megrahi’s return to Scottish imprisonment were he here today.

Perhaps next time Newsnight Scotland considers having a lawyer on as a guest, they should ask if the person actually knows about what the topic under discussion is.

 

The Tommy Sheridan Compendium – Perjury, News of the World, Hackgate and Coulson

I realised that, over the last few weeks, I have posted the odd piece about the trial of Tommy Sheridan and the News of the World related fallout.

I thought it would help my readers (both of them) if I listed the posts, with links, and a brief comment on each.

This story is a long way from ended, and I will update this post as necessary.

For the full story of the trial of Tommy Sheridan, I can do no better than to recommend the excellent Sheridan Trial Blog, compiled by James Doleman. James was able to give far more detailed coverage than any mainstream media outlets, and reported what took place in court without having his personal views, whatever they might have been, affect his narrative of the case.

James has contributed further work to the ever expanding Internet store of Sheridanalia at his new site.

I can also recommend heartily the Lallands Peat Worrier  who has been following the case for far longer than I have, and whose insights are always thought provoking, assiduously researched and elegantly drafted.

Finally Love and Garbage has been the source of much knowledge, insight and humour regarding the long process which has brought us to where we are, and he too I would commend to you.

News of the World Hackgate and the Police Investigation – Part 1

The Tommy Sheridan saga has proceeded now for many years. From the heights of the election of the Scottish Socialist Party MSP’s, led by Tommy Sheridan, to Holyrood, to the depths of him being led away to serve his prison sentence for perjury.

Whilst the issue was always very prominent in Scotland, wider UK interest was provoked by the scandalous revelations concerning the News of the World, which led to its closure.

This first piece addressed the evidence of DCS Phil Williams of the Metropolitan Police, who gave the High Court evidence about Operation Caryatid, which resulted in the convictions of Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman. DCS Williams’ evidence regarding the investigation, and what the police did, and more particularly did not, do seems even more concerning than it did at the time I write about it. Quite how the police managed to investigate so few people, in light of what we now know of what there was by way of evidence, remains baffling.

The testimony of former Metropolitan Police officers like Andy Hayman and John Yates before the Home Affairs Select Committee did not answer the questions as to why the initial investigation seemed so ham-fisted.

Frankly DCS Williams’ evidence had little to do with the Sheridan trial, and falls within the wide category of evidence which, if Mr Sheridan had been represented, would not have been permitted by the judge as being irrelevant.

I followed up with a “triple-decker”. This was prompted by speculation about possible perjury investigations into certain witnesses in Tommy Sheridan’s trial, and by implication these were going to be the News of the World witnesses, Andy Coulson, Douglas Wight and Bob Bird. All of the parties in connection with whom it is understood there is the ongoing investigation made clear I court that they were telling the truth and, I am sure, would vigorously deny any such allegations.

I thought it helpful to go through, in as much detail as I could, the testimony of the witnesses and see whether or not there might be cases against any or all of them for perjury.

Andy Coulson, the News of the World, Tommy Sheridan and Perjury

I started with Mr Coulson. As I explained in this post, and further later, in my view, I thought it unlikely that Mr Coulson would ever face a perjury charge in connection with his evidence in this case.

One of the various reasons for this is that Mr Sheridan was not able to question witnesses with the forensic specificity which would have pinned down the witnesses such as Mr Coulson with answers which could be assessed clearly and where there was no dubiety as to what the witness was saying and meaning.

The News of The World, Tommy Sheridan and Perjury?

As with Mr Coulson, I did not foresee any real likelihood that Mr Wight would face perjury charges either.

The News of the World, Andy Coulson, Tommy Sheridan and Perjury? – Part 3 Bob Bird in the Dock?

As regards Mr Bird, he seemed, from what had been made public, to be in greatest danger of investigation in connection with the maters raised. This seemed primarily to relate to his evidence about News of the World e-mails which he told the court had been lost in transit to India.
It later transpired that the e-mails had never been sent to India at all. Bearing in mind that Mr Sheridan’s defence team had been looking for access to them in connection with his defence, the incorrect evidence he gave may suggest that there could have been an attempt to interfere with the course of justice, if not perjury itself.

News of the World, Hackgate and the Police Investigation – Part 2

By this stage, Messrs Yates and Hayman had given evidence to the Select Committee and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner had resigned. It was being laid bare how poor and inept the original inquiry had been.

As I concluded ” Whether this “blind eye” approach was anything more sinister than simple incompetence will, hopefully, be addressed by one of the myriad of inquiries which seem to sprouting daily in connection with these matters.

What seems clear is that the police wanted little or nothing to do with this investigation – it was downplayed as much as possible – the bare minimum action was taken, and the whole sorry mess can be summed up by the picture of Mr Mulcaire’s 11,000 pages of notes lying in plastic bags in a Scotland Yard store room for four years, uncatalogued and ignored.”

Sheridan, Coulson and James Murdoch – Lessons from Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens?

I am a great fan of baseball, and over the last few years there has been an enormous explosion of interest in the use of performance enhancing drugs in the sport, and the attempts to stamp this out.

Two of the biggest names in the sport, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, have found themselves sitting in criminal courts facing perjury charges.

I thought that it would be interesting to see if there were any lessons that could be learned from either case as far as any potential perjury case might be concerned regarding witnesses in the Sheridan trial.

I feel (though I am biased as I wrote it) that there are a number of parallels and thus areas where we might gain a better ides as to how matters might progress domestically.

The Sheridan Trial Investigation – What Is Perjury and What Isn’t?

By this stage, there was a lot of discussion about the possibilities of court proceedings. One of the topics being raised was the suggestion by some that if it was shown that the NotW witnesses had lied about anything then (a) this was perjury and (b) Tommy Sheridan had been wrongfully convicted.
I tried in this post to explain the legal requirements for a perjury charge and how it was possible to tell lies in court and not commit perjury. This meant that there is quite a lot of law in this piece, by way of me “showing my workings” © Lallands Peat Worrier.

Tommy Sheridan’s Appeal – What Happened and Where Now?

By now the news had broken that Mr Sheridan’s appeal had been refused at the “sift” stage. This meant that he would not be granted an appeal hearing, because his ground or grounds of appeal were not felt to be arguable.

I wanted to give an indication as to why this might have been determined, and what options remained open to him.

I also wanted to clarify why the request by the defence to have the time for the appeal extended had failed.

Tommy Sheridan and the “McNeilage Tape”

One of the particularly striking pieces of evidence in the case was the “McNeilage Tape”. Whilst the authenticity of this had been questioned at the trail, neither party led any expert evidence to either confirm that the tape was genuine, or to refute that.

There have been various theories suggested as to why this was the case, and I thought it useful to look at these, and the implications of the Cadder case for the testing of the video tape.

Yet More Thoughts Re Sheridan, Perjury and the News of the World

One of my readers had taken the time and trouble to prepare a detailed comment regarding various of the issues in connection with the case. I felt this would be a good way of giving my thoughts, views and arguments regarding various points in connection with the case, rather than engaging with limited specific issues as I had done before.

Hopefully my comments provide some additional clarification of what is an extremely complicated situation. I am very much appreciative of Joseph Syme’s time in preparing his thoughts. As those provided an excellent template within which my answers would fit.

There remain many issues concerning this matter. The narrow issues of Mr Sheridan’s trail and the appeal by the NotW against his £200,000 award on one hand, and the wider factors surrounding phone hacking, and the iniquities of the NotW together with perhaps the rest of Fleet Street will all require further analysis and clarification.

I hope to be able to shed some light on these issues in future posts, and I am always happy for readers to contribute with their own thoughts.

Yet More Thoughts Re Sheridan, Perjury and the News of the World

Below is a lengthy comment from reader Joseph Syme  which I felt deserved its own post, and my thanks go to Mr Syme for his detailed views, and my further comments in response which are in italics.

 

JS – It’s taken me a wee while to get back to you, although I have been looking out for your thoughts on the McNeilage tape.

PMcC – Now online here. 

 

JS – What annoys me about the Sheridan shambles is Scottish justice being brought low by courtroom mudslinging, deletions from the indictment, alleged perjurers charged but never prosecuted, huge payments to witnesses, evidence being withheld, and what is increasingly looking like a malicious, possibly even criminal, conspiracy involving self-confessed liars from a newspaper now defunct (having collapsed under the weight of allegations involving corruption and criminality) and a potentially biased investigation by police.

PMcC – In recent years there have been various cases where the reputation of Scots Law, which for many years was justifiably high, has been damaged. I don’t think that the Sheridan case is yet one of them, although I can see how it might become so. I don’t think anyone involved in the legal system should be complacent about the problems it has, and most are not.

Dealing with the specifics you mention, some of the matters you raise are commonplace. Courtroom mud-slinging is almost obligatory (!), although in the Sheridan case the personal nature of the disputes seems to have boiled over from time to time. Deletions from the indictment are common in a High Court case and indeed the prosecutor has a duty to the court to remove matters which he thinks can no longer be proved. In addition, in serious cases such as murder, there might be a variety of charges accompanying the main charge, and these are left in the indictment to allow evidence to be led about them, but often, just before the case goes to the jury, the prosecutor will drop all but the murder charge, so as to “simplify” matters for the jury. After all, if the accused is convicted of murder any additional conviction for breach of the peace will make no difference to their sentence.

As regards perjury, we have here a “disconnect” between what the public perceives and what the law is. As I have mentioned before, false evidence does not become perjury unless it is, in law, relevant to the case before the court. I am not aware of anyone being charged with perjury since the Sheridan trial, although there may be charges in the future. It is true to say though that many people charged with a variety of offences never see the inside of a court room, as the Procurator Fiscal or Crown Office decide not to proceed.

Conspiracy is notoriously difficult to prove, and is suspected far more, I think, than it actually occurs.

The NotW paid witnesses. There is no dispute about that. However, as I understand the time line, this was not once criminal proceedings against Tommy Sheridan became “live”. Newspapers pay for stories. The fact of payment being made to witnesses is important, as long as it is disclosed. In contrast see the mess arising from the payment of a “reward” to Mr Gauci, the vital witness in the Lockerbie case.

Just because the NotW has closed due to apparent illegality by its staff, this does not establish that, IN THIS CASE, there was such illegality.

Finally, as regards the police investigation, if you are referring to the one involving Tommy Sheridan, this was “successful” in that he was convicted. There might have been incidents that were inappropriate, but that inquiry did what Crown Office asked it to do. As regards the new investigation, we need to see where this goes. As you will know, it is up to the Procurator Fiscal/Crown Office to decide whether or not to proceed, rather than the police. It is their job simply to investigate and report and substantial resources are being devoted to that just now.  

 

JS – Perhaps the speeding analogy needs an extra dimension; a speeder being convicted on the evidence of other speeders and all but one speeder getting away with it. I’m not entirely convinced the second jury got it right, but if they did, I think a perjurer was convicted on the evidence of other perjurers, or worse, alleged criminals who bribed witnesses, withheld evidence, hacked phones and perverted the course of justice. I don’t just mean those from the News of the World, or those who had their evidence discredited, or the ones charged with perjury but never taken to court, I’m including the witnesses from the SSP United Left faction who appeared to change their story from one trial to the next, and decided to deliver handwritten notes of SSP minutes to police after the first trial had concluded. Alan McCombes had been to jail for contempt of court for refusing to hand over the minutes, however the handwritten notes had been in Barbara Scott’s handbag the whole time. That’s all just my opinion of course.

PMcC – Everyone is entitled to their opinion about each case, and to have suspicions about the actions or motives of the various people involved. I am sure that one of the reasons why the NotW lost the first case was that the jury, or at least some of them, had a low opinion of the NotW. No-one thought, even before the most recent scandal, that we were dealing with the Beano here!

Political disputes can become horribly vindictive, whether on left or right. Here the SSP had the problem of being roped into the bourgeois Court process by one of their own, and they were forced to turn somersaults in deciding whether to obey “the law” or, on a  principled basis, stand up to the system and become martyrs.

 

JS – The fraud analogy should be attempted fraud, shouldn’t it? Sheridan has never received the £200,000 although, interestingly, I think the NotW still officially owe him the money as their appeal is still pending. Anyway, notions of attempted fraud are a bit of a moot point unless you think Sheridan was motivated by money, and I don’t think he was. It was very much attack as a means of defence. He believed he was defending himself against an evil and corrupt organisation actively engaging in a criminal conspiracy to destroy him both personally and politically. Whether they were out to get him or not, I think he was right about the NotW being an evil and corrupt organisation actively engaging in a criminal conspiracy (of one kind or another, but maybe not necessarily about him). Maybe we’ll know for sure one day, so long as the public inquiries aren’t a huge whitewash.

I think Sheridan was right to go to court. The completely made up drink and drug slurs were outrageous, as was the spanking story. Max Mosely was awarded huge damages. He was into S&M but not with a Nazi twist as made up by the unscrupulous NotW. Maybe Sheridan’s mistake was not doing the same as Mosely, i.e. take any true allegations on the chin and sue over the lies.

PMcC – I think you are right in saying that money was not the motive for the original case. But that’s all the court can award. Going to court seeking nothing other than a verdict in one’s favour is not possible. Technically the NotW doesn’t owe the money until the appeal is disposed of (and I have some thoughts near completion regarding the civil appeal – keep watching!).

From a political stance, as I have mentioned on this blog before, I don’t think Tommy Sheridan stood to lose much by NOT suing. He would have sickened some of his supporters, but to others it would simply have bolstered his “Jack the Lad” perm-tanned profile. Behind closed doors however, we don’t know what marital or family pressures there were, and whether in fact the court case was pursed for those reasons. If Tommy had lost at the original heading, he could have stood outside Parliament House and complained that the “common man” could not get a result in the “capitalist” courts, and this would have been endorsed as an opinuion by many. Instead he won, and in the massive sum of £200,000 as well. I can well imagine the disgust in the NotW at that result when they had proof, as they saw it, of the allegations (or at least some of them). And as to the suggestion it was a conspiracy to destroy him, well it was not the NotW which sued Tommy Sheridan.

Max Mosley is a different kettle of fish in many ways. His action succeeded because the paper had breached his rights to a private life. His was not a libel or defamation case. The truth of the allegations, other than the Nazi accusations, was not really part of the case. Instead it was about whether the public had any legitimate interest in these matters, as opposed to a prurient one.

 

JS – As you can probably tell I’ve believed right from the start of the perjury investigation that there was collusion between the SSP United Left, the NotW, the witnesses paid by the NotW, the police, and prosecutors. I’m not saying they were all in a room at the same time plotting against Sheridan, but there was plotting. For example, it has been well documented that the SSP United Left held meetings to agree their party line. The idea that they should be treated as twelve independent witnesses is laughable, especially if you realize that they are well accustomed to operating democratic centralism. Unfortunately, for Sheridan, his conspiracy theory was too grand and he didn’t have the evidence to support it. Two senior officers from the Met hadn’t resigned at that point and the NotW emails allegedly showing collusion were “missing” according to Bob Bird. Not just that but conspiracy theories aren’t believed by the majority of the Scottish public, e.g. no matter how much evidence was presented against Jim Farry nobody would accept institutional bias against Celtic – it was Farry alone not the SFA who was biased and cheating Celtic. Similarly, no matter how many former referees stand up at sportsman’s dinners to tell tales of their bias, people continue to believe there is no bias.

PMcC – Rather than suggesting that there was collusion between the various parties, I think it can correctly be said that there might have been various parties whose interests co-incised. For example, the NotW did not want to have to pay £200,000 in damages to a man they KNEW was lying (although in 2006 they were not in position to prove this). The SSP had split over the matter, not of policy, but of Tommy Sheridan, The “cult of personality” was seen by those remaining in the SSP as harmful to the Socialist struggle in Scotland. If Tommy Sheridan had lost the initial case, then this might have given the remaining SSP members time to get him out of the party, with infinitely less indignity for the party than there turned out to be.

The SFA/Jim Farry issue is proof that sometimes there is a deep-seated plan behind what seem to be, at first, random accusations of conspiracy. But, as in the Farry case, establishing this is very difficult.

I think that, if either the original trial had gone against him, or he had received only a nominal award, the matter might have ended there. However the damages were of such magnitude, far more than many injury victims would be awarded, that it was understandable that the NotW would challenge the verdict, primarily because such an award in Scotland would significantly have raised the bar for defamation awards in the future. The NotW could afford the sum in this case, but not if it regularly lost that amount in the Scottish courts.     

As far as witnesses are concerned, generally they are not “independent” simply because people involved in a dispute or incident are most likely to be the ones there. Even though some people may have had an axe to grind with Tommy Sheridan, that does not automatically render their testimony valueless. If only “unconnected” witnesses had given evidence at the High Court, then the trial would have lasted days, not months!

 

JS – Talking of SFA bias against Celtic, if Sheridan had employed Paul McBride QC I think he’d have had a not proven verdict in the criminal trial. McBride would’ve highlighted all the inconsistencies in evidence from one trial to the next, whereas Sheridan just encouraged personal squabbles to obscure the issues. McBride would’ve done much better on the collusion/conspiracy stuff as well.

PMcC – There is no doubt the Mr McBride would have been better presenting the defence case than Tommy Sheridan was. After all, he is a vastly experienced QC! However, the defence case started with an eminent QC, Maggie Scott, instructed. Unlike in the civil trial, when an apparent blunder by Sheridan’s legal team caused him to dispense with their services, there was nothing in this case which, on the surface precipitated her sacking.

That leads me to believe one of two possibilities. Either it was Sheridan’s intention all along to sack counsel and defend himself, on the basis that his oratory would sway the jury (as had already happened in Edinburgh) and that he would be seen as the “common man” standing up to the massive NotW or his QC was not prepared to pursue one or more of the lines of defence Sheridan had suggested. Counsel have a duty to their client of course, but also a duty to the court, and in a legally aided case, to the Scottish Legal Aid Board. If they feel they are being called upon to act in breach of their duties, and the client insists, then they must withdraw. If Mr McBride had been acting for Sheridan, rather than for Gail, then it may very well be the case that the same decisions, whether that of Sheridan to dispense with counsel, or by counsel to withdraw, would have been taken.   

Mr Anwar of course remained at Sheridan’s side through the trial, I understand in the capacity of “friend of the court” rather than, strictly, his solicitor, on the basis, as I understand matters, that once counsel was no longer acting, there would be no cover for Mr Anwar’s fees directly through the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Mr Anwar too is a lawyer of expertise and experience and therefore one might assume that, notwithstanding the excellent advice he would have been receiving, Mr Sheridan decided he knew best and ignored the help, or at least some of it, that he was getting.

As I have commented before, it is clear that Lord Bracadale gave Mr Sheridan a huge amount of latitude, as a party litigant, which would not have bee given to counsel acting for him. Much of the cross-examination of Messrs Coulson, Bird and Wight, for example, was totally irrelevant, in the legal sense, to the crimes for which the trial was taking place. The prosecutor had numerous objections repelled, many of which would have been upheld if counsel for Mr Sheridan had been asking them, rather than the accused himself.

 

JS – Given where we are now with Tom Watson MP describing the conviction as “unsound” and the possibility of the Scottish public finally grasping the concept of collusion and equal justice for all, I imagine many of the police and prosecutors wish they’d simply allowed the NotW appeal against the defamation award to go ahead with no ridiculously expensive criminal trial securing only one conviction and causing much embarrassment (especially the house search and comparing a middle-aged mum with rosary beads to terrorists). With the SSP United Left changing their tune and the McNeilage tape, Sheridan’s damages would probably have been reduced to account for the lies about drinking, drug-taking and spanking, without the other sexual stuff.

PMcC – As was commented on by the Lallands Peat Worrier  Mr Watson’s comments about the conviction are unhelpful, in that he failed to identify any way in which, legally, that was the case. Mr Coulson, for example, was a defence witness, as was, effectively, Mr Wight. Their testimony had nothing to do with the conviction, and the wide cross examination of them, as mentioned above, was irrelevant to the case, though not to Mr Sheridan’s feelings about the good conduct of the NotW.

As I mentioned above, I have thoughts about the civil appeal, but once the McNeilage Tape came into the hands of the NotW the matter had to go to the police. If the NotW had kept it from the police and produced it at the appeal, then I am certain that the Appeal Court would have suspended the appeal and referred the matter to the police themselves.

 

JS – What will happen now? Sheridan will be released, the Scottish part of the public inquiry will be a whitewash as will the police investigation into police collusion/corruption, and Sheridan will be back in court looking for his £200,000 which has already gone to pay McNeilage. No doubt Sheridan will be armed with a copy of Alan McCombe’s book to show exactly what a shady organisation he is up against, and then there’s the NotW.

PMcC – The future? The gaol sentence will be served. There may, or may not, be any criminal action against witnesses who testified in the case. Suggestions of police corruption are always of concern, but any such alleged collusion had nothing to do with the conviction in this case.

The likelihood is that, with the ongoing police investigations, the NotW appeal and the possibility that Mr Anwar will refer the conviction to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, the case of Her Majesty’s Advocate v Sheridan will remain a rich source for comment and speculation for several years to come!