Case Reports

The High Court of Justiciary has rejected a final posthumous appeal against conviction on behalf of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. Mr Megrahi was originally convicted of the murders of 270 people by a bench of three judges at a trial

A man who appealed the decision of a children’s hearing not to require the local authority to organise a DNA test as part of a compulsory supervision order has been successful in an appeal to the sheriff. The appellant, JS, had been party to referral proceedings in relation to a child tha

A Scottish fishing federation has succeeded in overturning a decision by the Scottish government not to move forward with a proposed pilot scheme affecting inshore fisheries around the Isle of Skye.  The Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation challenged a decision of the Sco

A sheriff in Dumbarton has granted a crave for division and sale of a property in Bearsden jointly owned by two feuding former sisters-in-law following several years of legal correspondence between them with no agreement.  Mridu Marwaha raised the action against her former sister-in-law&nb

A privacy rights group has succeeded in having part of a tribunal decision on the use of wide-ranging warrants by UK intelligence services quashed in its application for judicial review in an English court. Privacy International sought review of a 2016 decision by the Investigatory Powers

The Sheriff Appeal Court (Civil Division) has dismissed an appeal by a property owner in Carnoustie against an order requiring him to give access to his property for to the owner of a neighbouring house to park his car. Charles Davidson, one of two defenders along with Angela Milne&nb

The National Crime Agency has succeeded in an action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to recover monies from the frozen bank account of a former English car sales company as the proceeds of unlawful conduct. Niche Cars Ltd, which had its registered office in Bradford and had

A UK salvaging company that retrieved 2,364 silver bars from a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean has successfully established in an English court that the Republic of South Africa did not have state immunity from an action for payment for salvage. Argentum Exploration Ltd had originally sought a de

A building contractor that was hired to construct an extension at a school in Ayrshire has succeeded in an action to enforce an adjudicator’s award following a dispute with the local authority. The pursuer, D McLaughlin & Sons Ltd, was contracted by the defender, East Ayrshire Co

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has rejected an appeal by nine claimants, who were injured when a man broke into the hotel they were staying in, against a High Court decision that the hotel was not responsible in law for their injuries. Ohoud Al-Najar and eight other members

A woman who was injured during a two-week holiday to Turkey has successfully established that consumer regulations on the provision of package holidays applied to the booking she made with an ‘online travel agent’ for flights, accommodation, and hotel transfer.  Rosemary O’Don

The proprietor of a 350-year-old coastal home in Fife has failed to establish the existence of a servitude right of access over a strip of land within the curtilage of a neighbouring property, either by prescription or by necessity. Major Douglas Soulsby contended that an extension built by the

The High Court of Justiciary has allowed an appeal by an Edinburgh man against his conviction for culpable homicide after he argued that the trial judge had misdirected the jury in relation to the definition of the offence.  David Ditchburn was convicted of four charges in May 20

The Sheriff Appeal Court (Civil Division) has refused an appeal by a mother against the decision to grant a permanence order in respect of her 10-year-old son, Z, to allow him to stay with his maternal grandparents. The order was originally sought by Scottish Borders Council to a

An English judge has awarded a German artist £36,500 in damages after her vehicle was unlawfully sold by Welsh police before she was able to recover it. The Chief Constable of North Wales Police refused to allow Astrid Linse to recover her Mercedes-Benz Unimog truck in 2019, eve