Case Reports

The High Court of Justiciary Appeal Court held that the concept of “art and part guilt” had “no part to play” in establishing the statutory offence under section 4(3)(b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, but ruled that the misdirections did not result in a misca

A Scots lawyer who became embroiled in a “tense and heated” exchange of emails with a former client in which the solicitor said “what would you expect from a pig but a grunt” has been found guilty of “professional misconduct”. Ross Porter, 56, was censured by the&

A student from Afghanistan who has lived in the UK for more than five years has had a legal challenge against a decision to refuse her application for indefinite leave to remain dismissed. The petitioner was seeking to continue her studies in aircraft engineering, but the Home Office rejected her ap

A man who was found guilty of breaking into a dead person’s home and stealing a quantity of jewellery after his DNA was found on a torch which was left in the property has had an appeal against his conviction rejected. Michael Ritchie claimed it was his brother who committed the crime and

A Scots lawyer who published a series of comments on social media referring to Orange Walks in “discriminatory, sectarian, derogatory, and offensive” terms has been fined £6,000. Solicitor advocate Simon Brown was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Scotti

A woman who sued her former partner for more than £40,000 following the sale of their jointly owned home, claiming that he had agreed not to take his share of the property if their relationship ended, has had her “unjustified enrichment” action rejected by appeal judges. A sheriff

The family of a woman who was killed in a road traffic accident have been granted a jury trial in a civil action against the motorist who was found guilty of causing her death by dangerous driving. The Inner House of the Court of Session allowed an appeal by relatives of the late Moira Tow

The Supreme Court has refused to accept an application from the Attorney General for Northern Ireland to refer what he said was a “devolution issue” under the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Attorney General submitted that, by providing postcode lists to the Secretary of State, North

A prisoner who claimed that prison authorities breached his human rights by opening a letter addressed to him has had his petition for judicial review dismissed as “incompetent”. William McCulloch was seeking declarator that the opening of his correspondence was “incompatible&

A Scots lawyer who represented an elderly victim of a mortgage fraudster has been struck off the solicitors’ roll after being found guilty of “professional misconduct” over his failure to act his client’s best interests. Solicitor Alistair Bowie, 69, concluded missives w

A right-wing extremist convicted of downloading “sinister, violent and disturbing” terrorist material has had an appeal against his prison sentence dismissed. David Dudgeon was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, reduced from a period of three years, after pleading guilty to

It is understood that the firm will be seeking leave to appeal. The success fee provisions of an agreement between a Scottish law firm and its clients in a multi-million pound commercial action and the terms agreed by the firm when it instructed an advocate to act in the case were “illegal and

Two men found guilty of child sexual offences on the basis of the principle of “mutual corroboration” who claimed that there were insufficient similarities between the offences to demonstrate a “course of conduct” have had their appeals against their convictions rejected. The

A man accused of stalking has successfully challenged an attempt by prosecutors to lead evidence that he had previously assaulted one of the complainers.  A sheriff ruled that it would be “prejudicial” to the accused to allow the evidence of a “collateral incident” which

A Scottish fishing association which claimed that a continued prohibition on catching salmon in coastal waters and a compensation scheme introduced to support affected farmers were unlawful has had its legal challenge dismissed. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that the compensation s