Mitchell Skilling

A newly published judgment from 2019 details how former Scottish MP Natalie McGarry, who was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for embezzlement that year, won an appeal against a sheriff’s decision not to allow her to withdraw her guilty pleas, with the Crown granted authority fo

A Qatari couple whose four daughters fled to the UK in January 2020 after facing abuse at home have been unsuccessful in an action seeking an order for the return of their youngest daughter. Pursuers ZA and MN sought a specific issue order for the return of M, aged 13, to Qatar. All four sisters wer

A prisoner serving a life sentence for murder has lost an appeal against a decision to refuse him legal aid to pursue a challenge against a freedom of information request refusal in the UK Supreme Court. William Beggs argued that his case engaged the rights afforded to him by article 6 of the ECHR.

The UK Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a mail order company seeking repayment from HMRC of sums it claimed should have been regarded as recoverable VAT. Zipvit Ltd, which had mistakenly never been charged VAT for use of a special mail service provided by Royal Mail, argued that part of thei

A £290,000 award to the son of a man who died after sustaining injuries on a diving boat has been overturned after an appeal by the boat’s operators to the Inner House of the Court of Session. The action was originally raised by the man’s wife, Debbie Warner, on behalf of their you

An application for permission to appeal to the Inner House of the Court of Session by a woman with a mental disorder seeking to prevent a guardianship order being imposed has been refused on the grounds of competence. An application by the woman, JK, for leave to appeal to the Court of Session had a

An appeal by a tanning business against an order to compensate an employee after she suffered permanent hearing damage due to being instructed to work with a faulty fire alarm has been refused by the Sheriff Appeal Court. It was argued by Indigo Sun Retail Ltd that the sheriff had erred in finding i

A man who drove a lorry while drunk on from Stracathro to Stonehaven on a dark November night has lost an appeal against his sentence in the Sheriff Appeal Court.  Timothy Humphreys was disqualified from driving for 3 years and 7 months and sentenced to 6 months’ cumulo imprisonment after

An English judge has ruled that a bookmaker was not obliged to pay out over £250,000 after one of its agents registered a bet ten times higher than the one actually placed by a customer on a single horse race. The claimant, James Longley, argued that on a proper construction of the words he ex

A passing off claim raised by a former member of a Jamaican “sound system” group against his half-brother and fellow group member over the use of their group name in subsequent music projects has been dismissed by a judge in the English High Court. Ian Thomas, who performed under the nam

An Edinburgh sheriff has refused a motion for the discharge of an arrest warrant issued for a man wanted in the US state of Georgia to face trial for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and launder money.  The requested person, Robert Barr, had his extradition request certified by the Scottish Mini

A prison officer at HMP Barlinnie who claimed to have been injured during an attempt to return a difficult prisoner to his cell has failed in an action against his employers. Alexander Gemmell, who had worked as a prison officer since 1991, alleged that his employers, the Scottish Ministers, owed hi

An action for damages raised against a care home that allowed a high-risk teen under its care to have unsupervised leave, during which time he raped a child, has been dismissed by a judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session. The action was raised by the child’s grandmother, A, against c

A commercial judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session has ruled that the tenant of a pharmacy was not obliged to leave its fixtures and fittings behind upon return to the landlord at the end of the lease. David Tanner, who previously operated pharmacies trading as David Tanner Ltd, argued th

A Glasgow flat owner who claimed the factor for her building had failed to obtain the best possible insurance rate has succeeded in appeal before the Upper Tribunal for Scotland. Corrine Sinclair argued that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland had erred in finding the respondent, Speirs Gumley Prop