Mitchell Skilling

A pre-trial appeal in a domestic abuse case based on a judge’s refusal of a plea of no jurisdiction owing to some of the alleged conduct taking place in England has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary after it held that the common law on cross-border jurisdiction allowed for such a ca

A sheriff principal sitting in the Sheriff Appeal Court has ruled that an appeal against a sheriff’s decision to refuse a petition for recall of sequestration was incompetent, notwithstanding ambiguities in the relevant statutory provisions, as the decision was not capable of appeal without le

The Sheriff Appeal Court has refused an appeal against the grant of a residence order without a proof in favour of the mother of two children raised by the father on the grounds of judicial bias and systemic procedural failings after ruling that there was no merit to any of his substantive complaint

A 24-year-old convicted drug dealer who pled guilty to two charges of supplying cannabis and was imprisoned for six years and three months has lost an appeal against his sentence after it was ruled that the application of sentencing guidelines for class A drugs offences from England had not resulted

The Upper Tribunal for Scotland has refused a tenant permission to seek recall of an eviction order after ruling that the tenant not having legal representation at the hearing before the First-tier Tribunal was not sufficient to demonstrate that she did not have a meaningful opportunity to present h

A commercial judge hearing two test cases concerning repayment of bursary money paid to dentistry students in exchange for a commitment to future NHS work has ruled that both dentists were liable to repay parts of the payments after exceeding the permitted level of private work to avoid repayment. A

A journalist who was prosecuted and subsequently acquitted of a statutory offence of threatening and abusive behaviour after making a YouTube video about the outcome of the Alex Salmond trial has lost an action for damages for malicious prosecution before the Court of Session due to the application

A sheriff has ordered that a company director who gave an undertaking not to act in that capacity in 2017 after failing to account for VAT and subsequently breached it by assuming de facto directorship of an Aberdeen logistics company said to have been run by his wife has been disqualified from acti

An Aberdeen sheriff has refused an appeal by a property owner against a decision not to award him a short-term let licence after it concluded following a single objection to the application from a neighbour that there was the potential for public nuisance if the licence was granted. Kirk Harrison ch

A man sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work for assaulting his wife in front of her child has lost an appeal by stated case against his conviction after the High Court of Justiciary found that evidence from a friend of a de recenti statement could be used as a primary source of evidence in the absen

A sheriff conducting an inquiry into the death of a self-employed gardener who died after being struck by falling timber has concluded that his death could have been avoided if the drop zone into which timber was expected to fall had been more clearly identified and there was a clear means of commun

A man who claimed that he had been groomed by employees of a charity for LGBTQ+ young people when he was 15 and sexually abused by older men as a result of that grooming has been allowed a proof before answer on all of his averments after the defender unsuccessfully argued for the deletion of some o

An appeal by the defender in a Court of Session personal injury action arising from an asbestos-related death challenging the lord ordinary’s decision to allow the matter to be tried with a civil jury has been refused by the Inner House after it ruled that the provision relied on by the defend

An appeal by a man refused compensation following the lifting of an account freezing order over two of his bank accounts under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 has been refused by the Inner House of the Court of Session after it confirmed that no exceptional circumstances applied that were sufficient

A Crown appeal against the length of a sentence imposed on a man who assaulted his partner by repeatedly dropping her, causing her to require two operations on her skull and severely reducing her quality of life, has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary after it found that the sentence impos