News

A gamekeeper who used an illegal trap to capture wild birds on the Cardross Estate has been given a community payback order and ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work. James O'Reilly was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court yesterday, after having plead guilty to four charges under the Wildlif

A Member's Bill intended to deal with irresponsible parking will be introduced at Holyrood today. The law would create an offence for parking on footways and dropped kerbs and would ban double parking.

Lord Hope of Craighead The latest episode of BBC Radio 4's Unreliable Evidence series features retired UK Supreme Court Justice Lord Hope of Craighead and other guests discussing with Clive Anderson the controversial suggestion that the UK should withdraw from human rights legislation and re-instate

Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford MLA Northern Ireland’s largest law firm has withdrawn from all its major criminal cases in protest against rules that lower the level of legal aid payments the BBC reports.

Ross Yuill The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has said it did not receive the correct information from solicitors relating to the families of those who died in the Glasgow bin lorry tragedy last year and added that officials raised discrepancies nearly a month ago.

James Wolffe QC The Scottish government needs to think again about which categories of deaths should prompt a mandatory inquiry, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, James Wolffe QC, has suggested to MSPs.

New figures published in Scottish Police Authority (SPA) documents show that 171 Scottish police officers are facing serious criminal allegations including assault and fraud. A document from the SPA complaints and conduct committee meeting on 11 May lists allegations made against officers - ranging

Employers are facing thousands of potential claims for underpaid holiday pay according to accountants and business advisers BDO LLP.

Bruce Crawford The Scottish Parliament's Devolution (Further Powers) Committee has given its backing to a bill that would allow 16 and 17-year olds to vote in the next Holyrood election.

Christine Grahame The Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee has called for submissions of written evidence on the government's proposed Community Justice (Scotland) Bill.

The International Centre for Energy Arbitration (ICEA) has launched a report on dispute resolution in the energy sector at an industry summit in Amsterdam. The ICEA, a joint venture of the Scottish Arbitration Centre and the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University o

Scottish house prices have risen at their highest annual rate for eight years, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics. The ONS said average prices climbed by 14.6 per cent over the year to March, to hit £207,000, the largest increase since 2007.

Millionaire American lawyer Richard Fields has succeeded in a custody battle over a Steinway baby grand piano worth £64,000 in a divorce battle with his wife, Ekaterina Parfenova.

The Christian directors of a bakery “unlawfully discriminated” against a gay man in refusing to accept his order for a “Bert and Ernie” cake bearing a caption supporting same-sex marriage. A judge at Belfast County Court held that the Ashers Bakery, run by husband and wife Colin McArthur and

A prisoner who claimed the restraint used by security officers to take him from jail to attend hospital appointments was “disproportionate” is to be awarded damages after a sheriff ruled the inmate’s human rights had been breached. The pursuer James McDowall argued that the absence of an “in