Mitchell Skilling

A Crown appeal in the High Court of Justiciary against what it considered an unduly lenient sentence for a man who raped a woman in front of her seven-year-old son has succeeded in adding four years to his headline sentence. Respondent TJ was originally given a headline sentence of five years for ra

A fuel company that settled a personal injury action by one of its lorry drivers has lost a claim against the company that serviced the tanker lorry he had been driving for a contribution to the settlement after failing to establish negligence. Andrew Gray & Co (Fuels) Ltd settled a claim by pur

A private landlord who was removed from the landlord register because her local authority did not consider her a fit and proper person has successfully petitioned for judicial review of an Upper Tribunal decision upholding that decision. Petitioner Anu Sharma argued that the “fit and proper pe

A Lord Ordinary has declared that a notice of variation of sea fishing licences issued by Marine Scotland is not compatible with the National Marine Plan adopted pursuant to the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 following a petition for judicial review. The Open Seas Trust, a charity whose purposes include

The Sheriff Appeal Court has refused an appeal by a patient of an Ayrshire dentist who was removed from the Dentists Register against a sheriff’s decision that he was not responsible for an acute stress disorder suffered by the patient as a result of learning of a small chance he had contracte

A Pakistani national who had an application for naturalisation as a British citizen refused because she had unknowingly remained in the UK after her leave had been curtailed has had her petition challenging the decision refused. Petitioner Azia Ameen, who had been granted indefinite leave to remain

An appeal by a father against a sheriff’s decision that his young daughter required compulsory supervision, having ruled that there was sufficient evidence to find he had the mens rea for having committed an assault on her, has been allowed by the Sheriff Appeal Court to the extent that the es

A company that sought to change the name of a hotel it acquired on Oban Bay to include the phrase “on Obay Bay” has won an appeal against a sheriff’s decision interdicting them from using “Oban Bay” on any signage or misrepresenting its hotel as the “Oban Bay Hote

A man who had a £12 million claim against Amazon UK and a recruitment agency alleging that he had been the victim of an employment scam struck out has failed to have a consent order he signed for the recruitment agency set aside in order to allow him to continue his claim. Godstime Idnekpoma,

A former employee of a state school in Gloucestershire who was sacked after making social media posts deemed by the school to be potentially homophobic or transphobic has won an appeal against an Employment Tribunal decision dismissing her claims for direct religious discrimination and unlawful hara

A Polish road haulier company that had 289 cases of cigarettes stolen from a lorry while transporting them by lorry from Poland to England has lost a UK Supreme Court appeal against a decision that they were liable for excise duty of nearly £450,000 levied on them by HMRC following the loss. M

An appeal against a Lands Tribunal decision imposing an agreement allowing the installation of a mobile phone mast on top of the Marks and Spencer store on Princes Street, Edinburgh, has been refused by the Inner House of Court of Session. Marks and Spencer plc argued that it would be unjust to allo

A man convicted in the High Court in Glasgow of two rapes, one of which was committed while he was on bail relating to the first offence, has lost a challenge to a cumulo sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Dorel Simion argued that the cumulo sentence was excessive despite the serious nature o

The Court of Session has granted a vexatious litigant order against a man who had continually alleged his former solicitors of fraud since 2017 following an application by the Lord Advocate. Forbes Bruce Sime, a private hire driver, had instigated multiple actions against McCash & Hunter LLP sin

A Lord Ordinary has ruled that a policy of the City of Edinburgh Council creating restrictions on the granting of short-term lets in tenement buildings is unlawful at common law after a petition for judicial review was brought by a number of providers of short-term accommodation in the city. Petitio