Man who failed in bid to prosecute the Lord Advocate to appeal to the Supreme Court

Russell Stirton, 54, sought the permission of the Criminal Appeal Court in Edinburgh to privately prosecute Frank Mulholland QC.

Mr Stirton was the subject of a proceeds of crime seizure three years ago, totalling about £1 million.

He claimed Mr Mulholland pursued him unjustly and asked appeal judges whether his friend, James McDonald, 67, could address the court regarding the allegations.

Mr McDonald was convicted of fraud in 2009 after he impersonated a lawyer and gave immigration advice to asylum seekers in return for payment.

But the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Carloway, Lord Brodie and Lord Menzies refused Mr McDonald permission to address the court, explaining that only qualified advocates and solicitor advocates may do so.

Mr Stirton argued this breached his human rights, he said: “I’m entitled to justice. I’m a citizen of this state and this state needs to give me justice.

“I would like Mr McDonald to address the court on my behalf.

“I have spent the past 13 and a half years taking the system on and I’ll spend another 13 and a half years battling against it.

“Nothing has been proven against me in a criminal court.

“There have been allegations made against me and my family.

“I’m entitled to justice.”

When judges refused Mr McDonald permission to address the court, Mr Stirton abandoned his attempt at private prosecution and revealed his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court on the basis Mr McDonald should have been allowed to address the court.

He said: “I’m now going to abandon this. I want to go to the Supreme Court to argue that my rights have been breached.”