On 26 August 2019, after a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, the jury found the applicant and three co-accused guilty of the attempted murder of a young man. The jury found a fifth accused not guilty of attempted murder but guilty of assault to injury.

The applicant received an extended sentence of 13 years, comprising a ten-year custodial term and a three-year extension period.

On 3 May 2019, at the High Court in Glasgow, another individual had pled guilty to the charge of attempting to murder the young man.

All five of the applicant’s co-offenders had their sentences quashed on appeal and reduced sentences substituted in their place.

The commission concluded that the principle of comparative justice was breached in this case. The commission was satisfied that, had the applicant’s appeal been heard alongside the appeals of his co-offenders, the applicant’s sentence would have been reduced to some extent, to reflect the reduced sentences that his co-offenders received on appeal.

Accordingly, the commission believes there may have been a miscarriage of justice in the applicant’s sentence. The commission also believes it is in the interests of justice that the case be referred to the High Court for determination.