Monday, February 13, 2012

NO JUSTICE for clients as Crown Office & Law Society ‘cosy deal’ allowed FRAUD accused lawyer to slip criminal prosecution & move to Lucca, Italy

Luccan for meCrown Office & Law Society 'deal' allowed a ‘crooked lawyer’ to escape justice over client fraud charges. SIGNIFICANT FAILURES on the part of prosecutors at the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service and the lawyer’s regulator the Law Society of Scotland to prosecute solicitor THOMAS HUGH MURRAY over a string of fraud allegations made by his former clients have allowed the one time Stirling based lawyer who has been the subject of several investigations to slip away to the Northern Italian town of Lucca in Tuscany after the Law Society and prosecutors suspiciously failed to pursue charges the struck off solicitor embezzled £18,000 from client Neil McKechnie.

It has now emerged via the Sunday Mail newspaper that Murray, the solicitor involved in the client scam has been ARRESTED TWICE by Scottish Police, once over fraud charges and again after an attempt to flee the UK to avoid being prosecuted. However, the charges were dropped after a cosy deal was reached between the Crown Office & the Law Society of Scotland who then failed to act to protect clients.

The now Italian based Tom Murray, who as a solicitor was sequestrated in 2001 in Scotland, continues to avoid any moves to recover compensation for ruining his clients lives even though he has appeared before the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) on no less than three occasions, (i) Law Society-v-Thomas Hugh Murray 01/03/2005 (ii) Law Society-v-Thomas Hugh Murray 25/11/2005 and (iii) Law Society-v-Thomas Hugh Murray 10/12/2009. Murray was found guilty of professional misconduct in respect of misrepresentation, deception and misleading clients including his failure to tell his clients he had been barred from practising as a lawyer.

However, the Law Society of Scotland and SSDT’s attempts to prosecute Murray over the complaints have been called into question after it was alleged the solicitor appointed by the Law Society of Scotland to prosecute Murray before the Discipline Tribunal may have had a professional relationship with the very same solicitor he was supposed to be prosecuting. The details of what can only be described as a serious conflict of interest between the Law Society’s prosecution of Murray and the accused solicitor only came to light after a secret internal investigation at the Law Society, which is rumoured to have been given contradicting accounts by those involved in prosecuting Murray at the SSDT..

yellandPhilip Yelland, Director of Regulation at the Law Society of Scotland & in charge of Client Relations for the past 20 years. The Law Society of Scotland’s Philip Yelland who has been in charge of regulating solicitors for the past TWENTY YEARS, a now notorious two decades which have seem some of the worst scandals involving crooked lawyers in Scotland, wrote to Mr McKechnie, admitting : “Whilst you are quite correct in indicating that the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal considered specifically the failure of the part of Mr Murray to implement the decision made by the Law Society about the inadequate professional service you had received the written decision which would have allowed the Society to take steps to deal with the matter was not issued in December 2009 but was in fact issued by the Tribunal some months later. I should clarify that is normal practice in terms of the Tribunal and that following on from the issuing of the written findings there is a short period of appeal available.”

“What the Tribunal issues under Section 53C of the 1980 Act is the equivalent of a decree and there is therefore no reason to require service of that document on Mr Murray before consideration can be given to enforcement proceedings. As you are aware the prosecution of Mr Murray for alleged professional misconduct was continuing at that point and it is fair to say that immediate action was not taken to enforce the Section 53C order. The Society’s Fiscal however did at that point in time make some general enquiries about the enforcement of the Tribunals’ decision.”

“The challenge around the question of enforcement arises because of the fact that Mr Murray is now resident in Italy. So far as the Law Society of Scotland is aware Mr Murray is not resident in Scotland. Neither does Mr Murray have any assets in Scotland so far as the Law Society is aware.”

“That means that any enforcement proceedings would need to take place in Italy and from previous experience of other solicitors resident abroad the Society has had to look very carefully about the approach to take because of the difficulties arising both in terms of process and procedure and potential cost. That said on Thursday 19 January at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, the Society successfully served a charge on Mr Murray which opens up the possibility of other proceedings. However those will not instantly resolve outstanding matters. Accordingly I have prepared a paper to go to the Society’s Client Care Sub Committee in relation to the enforcement of this order. The reason that I am doing this is that the practicalities of endeavouring to enforce the order are extremely difficult. They are also costly.”

COPFS murrayProsecutors wrote to the solicitor’s victim admitting serious crimes had occurred yet they dropped the charges. The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service have also come in for stinging criticism in their failure to prosecute the solicitor over the fraud allegations after he was reported to Police by clients who had their money taken by Murray, and although Police did arrest the solicitor over the allegations, twice, the Crown Office came to a cosy arrangement with the Law Society of Scotland who were supposed to act but instead allowed the one time lawyer to slip away to Italy. The Procurator Fiscal’s Office in Stirling wrote to Mr McKechnie, stating : “A decision was taken by the Crown Office to take no further proceedings in this case: this decision was not taken lightly as we realise the seriousness of this crime.” Further attempts to gain further information relating to the refusal to prosecute the lawyer have failed, after the Crown Office refused to release any of the papers it held on Murray, raising suspicions of yet another cover up where the Lord Advocate’s team have taken decisions not to prosecute a colleague from the legal profession.

However, investigations now being carried out by independent law journalists into the Thomas Murray crooked lawyer scandal have now revealed the involvement of a prominent Scottish Sheriff in Murray’s sequestration which dates back as far as 2001, and allegations surrounding the fraudulent use of cheque books belonging to a building company and other activity which may warrant a criminal investigation. More details on these new revelations will follow in further articles.

A friend of Mr McKechnie, one of the solicitor’s victims who lost tens of thousands of pounds due to Murray’s actions, spoke to Diary of Injustice today. The friend said it was clear the Law Society and the legal establishment have gone out of their way to avoid taking any substantive action against Murray, branding their “feeble efforts to prosecute the solicitor” as little more than “an attempt to pervert the course of justice.”

He said : “The Law Society has ignored the SSDT's Legal Order for enforcement to demand payment of erroneously taken money as fees plus the maximum compensation allowable under law, despite the Society having around a dozen opportunities to do so face to face with Mr Murray. He [Tom Murray] should be arrested on 23rd February, when he appears at the Court of Session”

Mr McKechnie’s health has suffered significantly as a result of dealings with Mr Murray and the situation has been made much worse by the Law Society’s failure to resolve the matter. However, Mr McKechnie is now being assisted by his local msp, Keith Brown (SNP) who is also the Scottish Government’s Transport Minister.

The Sunday Mail reports :

Sunday Mail scan tm 120212 2LAWYER's ITALIAN JOB : LUCCAN FOR ME ? Victim's fury after £18k fraud probe solicitor jets off to new life

Feb 12 2012 Exclusive by Russell Findlay, Sunday Mail

A LAWYER accused of stealing a client’s cash dodged paying compensation by quitting Scotland for Italy. Tom Murray is holed up in the town of Lucca in Tuscany after watchdogs did not pursue allegations that he embezzled £18,000 from a client.

Murray, 49, has three times been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal but never struck off. One victim, Neil McKechnie, 43, has accused the legal establishment of protecting Murray.

Murray was arrested by fraud squad detectives in 2007 over claims he stole more than £18,000 from Neil. Weeks later, he was arrested again for allegedly trying to flee the country. But charges were dropped after the Crown Office agreed that the Law Society should take action.

Following the decision, Helen Bruce, of the Crown’s victim unit, wrote to Neil, stating: “This decision was not taken lightly as we realise the seriousness of this crime.” Neil, from Dunblane, said: “Anyone with the misfortune of being the victim of a lawyer should realise that self-regulation is self-protection.” In 1999 Murray was accused of ripping off Stuart Usher, who later founded pressure group Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers.

It took six years for the SSDT to rule Murray “acted dishonestly” and “deceived” Stuart by charging £3500 for work which was not done. Murray was ordered to work under supervision for three years. He was back before the SSDT later in 2005 for concealing his 2001 bankruptcy from a German client. The SSDT found him guilty of “misrepresentation, deception and misleading the client” and suspended him for five years.

Murray faced a third SSDT hearing in 2009 in relation to Neil’s complaints. He was found guilty of ignoring an earlier order to repay Neil £3049 fees and £1000 compensation. But the more serious accusation of the £18,000 embezzlement was abandoned. Last month the Law Society’s Philip Yelland wrote to Neil, stating: “The challenge around the question of enforcement arises because Mr Murray is now resident in Italy.”

Murray, who has worked in Dundee, Glasgow and Stirling, and his partner Linda Kilgour rent a £750-a-week apartment near Lucca. The lawyer has hit back against his former client with allegations of harassment. He served a writ demanding £15,000 damages from Neil. But Neil claimed he was medically unfit to defend himself so Murray won by default.

Neil said: “I have suffered serious illness as a result of my dealings with this man. I am now a 22st recluse with depression and diabetes.”

103 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last month the Law Society’s Philip Yelland wrote to Neil, stating: “The challenge around the question of enforcement arises because Mr Murray is now resident in Italy.”
=================================
Enforcement, does Yelland understand that word, if he lived in Scotland Yelland you would wrap him in cotton wool like all of the other criminals you have protected over they years.

Lawyers like ruining people because they know the Flaw Society is reviled by clients who complain.

Anonymous said...

How much of a bonus did the Crown Office give themselves for failing to prosecute Murray?

Crooks the lot of them aren't they.

Legalised theft encouraged again said...

Mr McKechnie’s health has suffered significantly as a result of dealings with Mr Murray and the situation has been made much worse by the Law Society’s failure to resolve the matter. However, Mr McKechnie is now being assisted by his local msp, Keith Brown (SNP) who is also the Scottish Government’s Transport Minister.
=================================
Yes my health suffered too, and I have every sympathy for victims of Scotland's legal (illegal) mafia. The Law Society have a brilliant success rate when it comes to protecting crooked lawyers. They probably gave the lawyer a nice lump sum of Legal Aid to spend in Italy. The Law Society of Scotland facilitate legalised theft.

Anonymous said...

The last time I checked,Italy was an EU member just like the UK.So why are the Law Society effectively refusing to serve this lawyer with writs when they make a big song & dance about sticking to EU law when it suits them to do so.

Terrible.

Anonymous said...

The Law Society dont appear to have looked very far to find Mr Murray's assets - He's listed as a board member of an accounting company in Aberdeen.

http://www.cdrex.com/thomas-hugh-murray/758114.html

THOMAS HUGH MURRAY Director
Company CRICHTON KILGOUR ACCOUNTANTS LIMITED
Board Members CRICHTON KILGOUR ACCOUNTANTS LIMITED
15 OVERTON WALK
DYCE
ABERDEEN

Board members of CRICHTON KILGOUR ACCOUNTANTS LIMITED
Name Function Appointment type Date
MRS LINDA MARGARET CRICHTON Director Appointment 10/12/2010
THOMAS HUGH MURRAY Director Change of particulars 06/05/2010

Anonymous said...

Cherbi should be contacting his colleagues in the Carabinieri to flush this torag out.

Fucking odd isnt it the cops over here cant or are not allowed by their Crown Office overlords to do anything with these crooked lawyers yet abroad they bang them up in jail like all the other criminals.

Anonymous said...

Another bent lawyer escapes Frank Mulholland.This is getting to be a bit of a habit Franky boy.One or two might slip past but this and the 14 already slipped under the table means there is corruption right at the heart of the prosecution service.

Roxy Music said...

I heard that after the Committee disposed of your complaint against Penman in 94 they all went out for a lunch together and Yelland said they would never hear any more from Peter Cherbi again.

You got that one wrong didn't you Phil.

Anonymous said...

“The challenge around the question of enforcement arises because of the fact that Mr Murray is now resident in Italy. So far as the Law Society of Scotland is aware Mr Murray is not resident in Scotland. Neither does Mr Murray have any assets in Scotland so far as the Law Society is aware.”

Utter crap.

Anonymous said...

Forgive me for thinking the obvious but this all sounds a bit dramatic just because he made off with £18,000 if you look at what has happened to other crooked lawyers in Scotland (as in nothing ever happens to them)

I presume there is much yet to tell about this Murray and the Law Society cover up?

Anonymous said...

Seems to have been kept secret for a long time if he was sequestrated in 2001.When did he jet off to Italy and why did the Crown Office drop the prosecution?All very fishy and no one to check up on what the Law Society did or didn't do.

Why bother having the Police around if they are not allowed to arrest criminals?

Anonymous said...

Mr Yelland must be in the job for 20 years because all the bent lawyers are being allowed to flee the country.

Oh and that "cost" argument about enforcing regulation wont go down too well Mr Yelland.Its your job after all and I suppose you will earn tens of thousands a year for doing it.

Anonymous said...

The contact info for the Police in Lucca is Polizia municipale

IL COMANDO DI POLIZIA MUNICIPALE E' APERTO DALLE 7.00 ALLE 01.00 PER PRONTO INTERVENTO ED INFORMAZIONI DI CARATTERE GENERALE

Lucca, piazzale S. Donato, 12/A
Centralino 0583/442727 - Fax 0583/442740 - uffvvuu@comune.lucca.it

Maybe we should let them know there's a Scottish lawyer on their patch?

cia amico molto Bene!

Anonymous said...

Nice to know the Sunday Mail are on the case thank god and yes I did see it yesterday as I buy the paper anyway.

The Lord Advocate has much explaining to do (again)

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The last time I checked,Italy was an EU member just like the UK.So why are the Law Society effectively refusing to serve this lawyer with writs when they make a big song & dance about sticking to EU law when it suits them to do so.

Terrible.

13 February 2012 17:37

EXACTLY

Anonymous said...

Who is stupid enough to use or trust ANY Scottish lawyer after reading stuff like this?

Anonymous said...

I dont think that number for the Italian Police is correct in the earlier comment.I found this on google

Polizia Municipale - Comando Centrale

Piazzale San Donato 12, 55100 - Lucca (LU)
tel 0583442727

or this
Il Questore - Via Cavour n.120 - 55100 Lucca

telefono: 0583/4551
fax: 0583/455413 - 0583/455474
email: urp.quest.lu@pecps.poliziadistato.it

it all seems a bit messy to contact not like a local Scottish Police Force

Anonymous said...

No wonder Italy is broke!

Anonymous said...

For "Significant Failures" read Significant Corruption - the Crown Office and Law Society teams had a nice sit down with drinks and decided how not to proceed and here we are a decade later and nothing happened.Now isnt this a surprise.

Anonymous said...

A lawyer once told me the legal system is not for prosecuting crooked lawyers. How right he was.

Anonymous said...

The Law Society guy sounds seriously full of sh*t and if this is what your glowing Scottish politicians allow to pass then they are all rotten to the core just like their pals in the legal establishment.

You need some Greek style debate about these filthy rotten crooks now that will worry them all if it ever comes about

Anonymous said...

Seriously you Scots will have to stop allowing your crooked bankers and lawyers into the wider world.We can all really do without this kind of scum polluting the rest of us!

Anonymous said...

I've done some more digging on how to contact the Italian Police (Carabineri) and its really a mess.Anyhow here are some numbers I found online so maybe they want to go round and ask Mr Murray what he has been up to back home in Scotland

http://lucca.virgilio.it/cat/CARABINIERI.html

CARABINIERI
Via Del Brennero 1122 - 55100 LUCCA (LU)
tel. 0583 406312

CARABINIERI CENTRALINO
CORTILE Degli Svizzeri 4 - 55100 LUCCA (LU)
tel. 0583 4751

or there's their main website http://www.carabinieri.it which might be of some help.

or if you cant be bothered to wade through the mess of the Italian Police there's always Interpol http://www.interpol.int and let them do the legwork.

Never thought I'd say this but I'm glad we have a non complicated Police system in Scotland unlike some of our European neighbours

Anonymous said...

[JOKE!] I wouldn't open any funny looking or unexpected parcels from Italy in the next few weeks if I were you *BOOM* [JOKE!]

Anonymous said...

Roxy Music said...

I heard that after the Committee disposed of your complaint against Penman in 94 they all went out for a lunch together and Yelland said they would never hear any more from Peter Cherbi again.

You got that one wrong didn't you Phil.

13 February 2012 18:50

Yes all these crooked lawyers who are named everywhere can go thank Penman & Yelland for their infamy

Anonymous said...

No justice for anyone up against the Law Society or a crooked lawyer

Anonymous said...

Good one as always Peter.Even those who slip away abroad are not safe from Diary of Injustice!

Anonymous said...

As it reads the Law Society of Scotland and this SSDT are managing to make people so ill probably a few of them have died because of people like this Mr Yelland's talk about doing something when we all know he doesnt want to do anything even going on about the cost of it all.What a disgrace.

Anonymous said...

A man 20 years in a job protecting rotten solicitors who all seem to get a slap on the wrist.Come on you guys in the media do we have to join the dots or what?Mr Yelland and the Law Society are part of the problem and should be outed big time.Get rid of that cosy lawyers club and put real people in charge of regulation not the lawyer's cousins and colleagues!

Anonymous said...

These Law Society people believe that no client has the right to complain or campaign against them. They are dangerous, their weapons are not firearms, simply bureaucracy, that office structure where they look at us as ungrateful filth because we want to fight back.

Without the internet clients have no rights and they want to stop that too. I mean how can any reasonably balanced person be hostile to people being ripped off, the reality is that the Yellands are not balanced. I do not mean he has mental health problems (I would not be qualified to say this anyway) he is simply only capable of having concern for lawyers.

Ronnie Briggs went to Brazil and became a father to protect him but this guy is under EEC Law so why do they not deal with him.

Law Society new policy, send crooked lawyers overseas that they cannot be blamed for dealing with them. As I have said before Yelland where none are guilty all are.

Anonymous said...

If this guy went into a bank with a shotgun and got £18,000.00 he would face jail, but when the crime is referred to the bureaucratic exonerating machine the outcome is different.

It is legalized theft. To have rights someone in a position of power has to enforce them, that is why the client never has rights, remember Douglas Mill, that criminal Yelland is the same.

Anonymous said...

These bastards are human rights abusers.

Anonymous said...

It is because your blog is too high profile now Peter they cannot harm you. How could the Crown Office get out of that one.

Anonymous said...

How can Salmond argue in favour of Scotland when he encourages this faction of criminals. Christine McKelvie is my MSP but I did not vote in the last elections. What is the point when MSP's are hell bent on protecting Yelland and his cronies.

Web sites are better than electing representatives.

Anonymous said...

Again we witness the tyranny of the minority. Ten thousand well organised lawyers dominating five million Scots with the approval of the biggest backstabbers in Scotland, the SNP.

You can vote all you want, the Law Society sideline representative government by having MSP's on their side and the masses are too blind to see it.

Anonymous said...

“Anyone with the misfortune of being the victim of a lawyer should realise that self-regulation is self-protection.”

The plain & simple truth of it all.

End self regulation now.

EdinJim said...

A lawyer is found guilty of "misrepresentation and deception" (= fraud), yet despite this (rather, because it is only a Society decision not a Court decree) he gets to sue for damages against another former client whom he had also been found to have defrauded of £3,500 (the finding appears to me to be a clear case of false billing [billed for work not done, and took the money] = fraud), and the Court applies its "Victorian" procedural rules and grants decree for £15,000 'in absence'.
One law applies to us non-lawyers - but no Court law applies against solicitors. That seems to me to be plain wrong and wholly inequitable.
This whole system of a separate 'jurisdiction' for lawyers needs to be revoked at once. What the hell are the Crown Office doing colluding in such inequity.
We need to get rid of the overly adversarial "Victorian" system and adopt/revert to a more "Inquisitorial" system - ours is a hybrid Common Law/Civil Law tradition = it can easily be done! Just don't let the lawyers lie or advance any old fictitious hypothesis which suits their purpose at a given moment in time - and when it is exposed that they have done so (advanced an unsubstantiated unfounded submission), immediately revoke their representative privileges {i.e. the right of appearance "on behalf of" clients}. The Court time & money to be saved by such an approach would be immense.

Anonymous said...

"the solicitor involved in the client scam has been ARRESTED TWICE by Scottish Police, once over fraud charges and again after an attempt to flee the UK to avoid being prosecuted"
He was a known "flight risk" - a FUGAE WARRANT should have been issued - 'fugae prob. alter. (influenced by L fugae of running away—in the Scots law phrase used in reference to an absconding debtor NL in meditatione fugae in contemplation of running away—gen. of fuga flight, running away)'- yet they let him keep his passport?
It does raise the question - Is the Crown Office stuffed full of charlatans aiding and abetting absconding solicitors?

Anonymous said...

These Law Society crooks like ruining people. It is easy money for them and they bypass the justice system because they are the justice system.

Anonymous said...

I would jail the Crown Office and Law Society because they are criminals.

This injustice is what happens when people trust lawyers.

Anonymous said...

Arranged all along if you ask me.They wanted to do nothing against Murray so someone at the Law Society probably told him to go off quietly and they wouldnt need to do anything unless the clients persisted.

It happened in this case and it will have happened in others just the same and yet nothing done about it.

When is Scotland going to get some protest group up against these thugs in the legal profession?How about someone resurrecting Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers or something new?Surely there is a real need for a pressure group and public protests with all these headlines and the politicians refusing to do anything about it even in Salmond's utopia SNP Scotland

Anonymous said...

I like your intro picture a lot - its got all the gang members right in there who are allowing all these lawyers to do as they please.Surprise! they are all lawyers!

Diary of Injustice said...

Thanks for your comments and suggestions, keep them coming in !

13 February 2012 17:49

Thanks.Information has been passed on to those affected by Mr Murray's actions.

13 February 2012 18:50

Have been aware of this for awhile ... look where it got them.

13 February 2012 19:13

Much more to tell, yes.

14 February 2012 11:47

Agreed.

14 February 2012 15:13

Yes there is very much a need for a pressure/protest group for consumers of legal services in Scotland. Anyone wishing to do something in this regard please step forward.

Anonymous said...

Its about time someone suggested a protest group against lawyers and I mean a real protest group out on the streets with placards leaflets the works.

Oh yes the msps may laugh at it but dont worry because educating people to the legal thuggery which is going on will end up depriving some of these scumbag lawyers of business and this should be the aim of people now if they are not going to give us better regulation then lets disrupt their business to steal from people.

Anonymous said...

These lawyer freaks would want us burned alive if we were treating them like this.

Anonymous said...

and where are the SLCC in all of this?

are they sunning themselves in Lucca too?

Anonymous said...

However, the Law Society of Scotland and SSDT’s attempts to prosecute Murray over the complaints have been called into question after it was alleged the solicitor appointed by the Law Society of Scotland to prosecute Murray before the Discipline Tribunal may have had a professional relationship with the very same solicitor he was supposed to be prosecuting.
===============================
These bastards will never prosecute a lawyer. There is nothing to discourage or restrain lawyers from ruining people. It is a shocking situation this riff raff are allowed to continue their crooked ways. If I was doing this to people I would be looking out for my safety.

How can all be equal before the law when repeated fraud against members of the public is perpetrated by scum like lawyers? It is legalised stealing.

Anonymous said...

What a lot of rubbish from the Law Society of Scotland

Just imagine if this was a wanted murder and the Lord Advocate said sorry we cant touch him because he's somewhere else in the EU .. load of crap!

Clearly they never wanted to do anything from the start

Anonymous said...

Scotland now has its own Lord Luccan! lol

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to think of the proper collective term to describe the members of the Law Society of Scotland...eureka I have it 'the SCUM of the Earth'.

Anonymous said...

re the suggestion to start a protest group

I think we need to persuade Mr Usher to return to the fray.His SACL did bring some focus on the streets to these crooked lawyers.

Lets protest!

Anonymous said...

Yes there is very much a need for a pressure/protest group for consumers of legal services in Scotland. Anyone wishing to do something in this regard please step forward.

So who is going to be first?

Anonymous said...

Yes it is about time a protesting group was formed after all there are people protesting about the bankers and the rotten Government cuts so why not have a go at these thug lawyers and the courts because its this lot who are justifying the rest.

Wake up people and do something about it.

Anonymous said...

My nephew knows what these lawyers are, as I brought him up I have implanted my views so that he avoids lawyers. He is intelligent and will go to a law firm only as a last resort. These criminals are no different from Al Capone, the difference is between violence and bureaucracy as both are equally dangerous, the latter is just not patent.

Anonymous said...

Neil said: “I have suffered serious illness as a result of my dealings with this man. I am now a 22st recluse with depression and diabetes.”

Yes Neil they are an evil ruthless profession, like you and the Cherbi family my family learned this the hard way.

The Law Society are Legalised Criminals said...

The Law Society cause client suicides here, they will do nothing to this lawyer other than give him an award for ruining another client.

Another lawyer saved and another client without the protection of the state.

Anonymous said...

The last time I checked,Italy was an EU member just like the UK.So why are the Law Society effectively refusing to serve this lawyer with writs when they make a big song & dance about sticking to EU law when it suits them to do so.

Terrible. Yes I agree.

The Law Society would leave no stone unturned to bring back Joe Bloggs for this fraud against a lawyer but clients are not human beings to them, untermenschen (subhumans) things to make money from and steal money from.

I read Peters blog and I think here we are, Deja Vue again, how many more times will this injustice happen? Yelland and his cronies are pure scum, living breathing human filth.

Anonymous said...

Over the decades thousands of people must have lost millions of pounds to this Law Society, killing off clients rights to leave LLB criminals to look for more victims.

They are bad bad bastards and so are the scum that are elected to the Scottish Parliament who turn a blind eye. The problem is that these injustices are not affecting enough people. If they were affecting people the way the Poll Tax did Yelland would be out of a job and self regulation would end pronto. I am not saying I have all the answers but we need to organise and unite if we are to stand any possibility of changing the situation.

Anonymous said...

The result of domination again or control by a system of bureaucracy where no one is held to account for what is being done.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like this could open a large can of worms..

Anonymous said...

If you go to a lawyer hand over your credit and bank cards, pin numbers, saving accounts details, sign your house over to them, because they can take it all legally anyway. Lawyers see the public as things to be exploited.

The Law Society reward lawyers who legally steal clients assets, for them it is legal because they decide who gets prosecuted. Murray not being prosecuted is a perfect example as is Mr Cherbi's lawyer Drew Penman.

Anonymous said...

Not wishing to burst anyone's bubble over the idea of a protest group however if one is to be created you will all have to pay special attention to the "credibility" word.

Alas credibility takes years to build up rather than simply materialise or earned in a few days weeks or months.

The fact is this blog and Mr Cherbi's work is widely respected and probably harder hitting than any niche campaign group against lawyers will achieve in Scotland due to the way the the Law Society operates and the many public bodies who will rather be friends with lawyers than with campaigners or protesters who will inevitably be portrayed as fringe elements.

By all means form a campaign if you wish but remember where the real action takes place and perhaps like Mr Cherbi's blog,if campaigners want to succeed where they have previously failed,"credibility" and constructive well focused discussion should take priority over standing in the street.

over & out.

ALEX SALMOND AND DICTATORSHIP said...

Independence is the key to Scotland's future economic growth, Alex Salmond is to argue during a lecture to the London School of Economics (LSE) .

Scotland's First Minister (WHO IS THE BIGGEST BACKSTABBER ON THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE BY PROTECTING HIS LEGAL ESTABLISHMENT) is to identify the specific measures that an independent administration needs to boost economic growth - including responsibility for taxation, greater control over investment in energy and borrowing powers to stimulate capital investment.

WHAT ABOUT THEFT BY LAWYERS ALEX, YOU SUPPORT LAWYER CRIMINALLITY AND HAVE NO INTENTION OF PROTECTING THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE. YOU ARE GREAT AT BANGING THE INDEPENDENCE DRUM AND OF YOU SUCCEED YOU WILL BE SCOTLAND'S FIRST DICTATOR).
Salmond will argue that the economic case for Scottish independence is "absolutely clear", stressing that the measures needed to boost the economy, create jobs and build a fairer society demand Scotland to have full financial control in Edinburgh rather than at Westminster.

Anonymous said...

Imagine the following scenario, assuming of course you have never dealt with a lawyer.

You are the friend of a woman who lost her parents when she was eighteen and you helped her through their early deaths.

Thirty years later she finds out you were being paid out of a trust fund left by her parents. How would she react?

In my view you would not be her friend as your motive would have been maximising your financial gain. A true friend would have helped her without financial reward. How could you convince her you helped her for friendship alone? In this situation it can be argued you are immoral because you could not refute the possible legitimate accusation you helped her for the money.

I am not having a go at anyone except lawyers.

These legal rats prove once again that trusting a lawyer is an illusion.

You are the client of a lawyer who you rightly think represents your interests. But you do not realise the lawyer you believe is on your side is actually against you. You are seeking damages for being wronged in some way. Your lawyer has taken on your case but for you to get damages his insurers will have to pay your damages because the chances are all parties share the same insurers including the party you are claiming damages from.

Then there is the further illusion because you think the Law Societies or SLCC will help you. No the real world is that lawyers use you as a tool to make money while stabbing you in the back.

There is a vast difference between what people who have not dealt with lawyers think they are and what they actually are.

Any lawyers out there want to help people like Neil? No protect the Master Policy, that and legal theft is what you all specialise in.

Anonymous said...

Are journalists apart from the papers reporting this scandal of course AFRAID OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND or do Yelland's LLB's work for the rags in question?

Come on journalists a selective press is not a free press.

Anonymous said...

Mr Yelland must be in competition with Fred the Shred to see how many people's lives he can help to destroy.

Hope Mr McKechnie gets some justice and peace out of all of this.Its a flaming disgrace Murray has been allowed to give everyone the slip in a European country of all places.

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine was told by a relative who is a lawyer to avoid lawyers at all costs. Very revealing.

Anonymous said...

Feb 12 2012 Exclusive by Russell Findlay, Sunday Mail

A LAWYER accused of stealing a client’s cash dodged paying compensation by quitting Scotland for Italy. Tom Murray is holed up in the town of Lucca in Tuscany after watchdogs did not pursue allegations that he embezzled £18,000 from a client.

Murray, 49, has three times been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal but never struck off. One victim, Neil McKechnie, 43, has accused the legal establishment of protecting Murray.
==============================
They protect all lawyers not just this bastard.

Anonymous said...

It is very difficult to accept your own prosecution authorities signed up to a deal with a notoriously corrupt regulator who went on to do nothing for years.

Heads should be rolling at the Crown Office with regard to all those involved in this affair.

Anonymous said...

Mr Yelland has been doing a great job of allowing all these crooked lawyers to escape justice hasnt he!

It certainly goes to show the Law Society dont give a toss about the public or clients interests.

Anonymous said...

Murray faced a third SSDT hearing in 2009 in relation to Neil’s complaints. He was found guilty of ignoring an earlier order to repay Neil £3049 fees and £1000 compensation. But the more serious accusation of the £18,000 embezzlement was abandoned. Last month the Law Society’s Philip Yelland wrote to Neil, stating: “The challenge around the question of enforcement arises because Mr Murray is now resident in Italy.”

Murray, who has worked in Dundee, Glasgow and Stirling, and his partner Linda Kilgour rent a £750-a-week apartment near Lucca. The lawyer has hit back against his former client with allegations of harassment. He served a writ demanding £15,000 damages from Neil. But Neil claimed he was medically unfit to defend himself so Murray won by default.
================================
Lawyers always win, bastards.

Salmond and Cameron have more in common than they think said...

Unemployment could be as high as 6.3 million in the UK if a different counting measure was used, highlighting the true scale of joblessness, according to a new report.

The TUC said the higher figure - more than twice the official total - was revealed using an American measure, which includes people in part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work and recent redundancies.
================================
Cameron or Salmond will not need to worry £65.00 a week, they will never be at the sharp end of this economic disaster. Do they give S**t about us, well they speak or the hardship on families but they have a lot in common.

The differences between them over the Scottish English border is one thing, the differences between them and the economic border of £65.00 a week well they have more in common with each other than the electorate.

Politicians are like lawyers, pure bastards.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

It is very difficult to accept your own prosecution authorities signed up to a deal with a notoriously corrupt regulator who went on to do nothing for years.

Heads should be rolling at the Crown Office with regard to all those involved in this affair.
----------------------------
You are correct but heads can only roll when there is someone in power to make them role. This is the result of self policing. They are all guilty, fill an office with those of a like mindset and this is what you get.

Anonymous said...

3 times up before a tribunal and they let him escape to Italy..come on who believes this guy Yelland or his Law Society

Anonymous said...

I am convinced there is not such thing as an "independent regulator" these two words make me shudder when I think of the poor people who have to deal with them, be it law, medicine, accountancy and even local government. Housing officers are not impartial if the complaint is from a council employee. And FOI requests, well they protect the identity of thos who are complaining. This is how they can try and build a case against an innocent person.

Anonymous said...

He must have something on the Law Society for nothing to have happened all this time

Anonymous said...

Prosecutors wrote to the solicitor’s victim admitting serious crimes had occurred yet they dropped the charges.
================================
Reverse the situation and make the lawyer the victim of the client. You can be sure charges would not have been dropped then.

Anonymous said...

- yet they let him keep his passport?
It does raise the question - Is the Crown Office stuffed full of charlatans aiding and abetting absconding solicitors?

14 February 2012 13:43
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I understand that the reality is far worse than has been reported!

I am reliably informed that the High Court retained Tom Murray's passport to ensure that he could not evade justice but he absconded regardless of this by using an Italian Identity card to deceive his way past the check-in staff!

Anonymous said...

the finding appears to me to be a clear case of false billing [billed for work not done, and took the money] = fraud), and the Court applies its "Victorian" procedural rules and grants decree for £15,000 'in absence'.

14 February 2012 13:33
-----------------------------------

A very perceptive post but it would seem that the figures quoted have somehow been lowered??

My understanding from the court papers is that Tom Murray is suing Mr McKechnie for £150,000.00 plus costs (the exact value of his home) and not the £15,000 reported.

Anonymous said...

Is the 2nd October 2007 letter from the crown office the smoking gun...?

I mean, is this not prime facie evidence of the crown office defeating the ends of justice?

Who was responsible for this decision?

It was certainly done under the stewardship of Dame Elish Angiolini.

Is she not already under a police criminal investigation already for alleged criminal acts whilst Lord Advocate?

If so, surely this should be added to that police investigation?

Otherwise, it is clear that these individuals are above the law in Scotland?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The result of domination again or control by a system of bureaucracy where no one is held to account for what is being done.

14 February 2012 23:50
___________________________________


I totally agree.

What are the police and MSP's doing about this?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The Law Society dont appear to have looked very far to find Mr Murray's assets - He's listed as a board member of an accounting company in Aberdeen.

http://www.cdrex.com/thomas-hugh-murray/758114.html

THOMAS HUGH MURRAY Director
Company CRICHTON KILGOUR ACCOUNTANTS LIMITED
Board Members CRICHTON KILGOUR ACCOUNTANTS LIMITED
15 OVERTON WALK
DYCE
ABERDEEN

13 February 2012 17:49
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Very good point. I don't know any director of a company who is not on a big fat salary.

Presumably if Yelland could have been bothered he could arrange for the arrestment of this salary at source?

Clearly Mr Yelland is lying to help Tom Murray!

Anonymous said...

Very good Peter you are up to your usual good form.

I wonder if you might want to take a look at a corrupt councillor who has been giving me problems I have a file on him and some letters to show he received thousands from a company who successfully bid for building repair contracts to his own Council.Is this up your street?

Anonymous said...

I've been writing back & forth to Yelland for years about my complaint and its still not decided what they will do so he says

Anonymous said...

I spoke to a mate of mine who is a retired police officer about your blog Peter and he told me lawyers are scum.

Anonymous said...

Hey Peter there's £24 million gone missing at Rangers FC - I think they need your talents to track down the lawyer/couriers who made off with it maybe to places like the Caymans?

Anonymous said...

Change of subject, the Hollyrood mob talk about you Peter, well to be talked about is to be great, they hate your blog because you tell it as it is not as they want it told.

Diary of Injustice said...

16 February 2012 18:19

Yes send it in to scottishlawreporters@gmail.com and same goes for anyone else with good corruption stories on Councillors, elected politicians & officials

Anonymous said...

"and same goes for anyone else with good corruption stories on Councillors, elected politicians & officials"

Fantastic news.I look forward to reading these kinds of stories as well as the crooked lawyer ones.

Anonymous said...

National Injury Solicitors: "100% NO WIN NO FEE"

I got an e mail from these people this morning asking if I wanted to claim for being injured. It only takes 30 seconds. My reply

"I do not trust the legal profession".

Refusing to deal with them is the best defence if people can do this, but it is not always possible. So we must keep the web sites going by spreading the word.

These people have done me no wrong but how do I know if they are safe to deal with. This is the dilema for clients created by the Law Societies. Trust no lawyer.

Anonymous said...

Protests and things like that are only effective if you start hitting the businesses of [in this case] corrupt solicitors and their wider profession.

If any serious protest group does want to hit back at crooked lawyers they will have to focus their efforts on hitting their business.

Anonymous said...

Dear sir,

I share Graeme Pearson's concerns over the missed opportunity to incorporate provision for proper public accountability of the police into the current Police and Fire Services Reform Bill.

In an open society policing must always be policing for the people rather than policing of people. This in turn demands that the people have a sense of "ownership" of policing. With one super-force monopolising policing in Scotland the requirement for a public perception of "ownership" will be greater than ever.

The Bill proposes increased scrutiny of the police by members of local authorities however the lack of public confidence in councils to adequately scrutinise and police their own organisations casts serious doubt on their assumed ability to scrutinise a powerful and possibly intimidating police super-force.

Also with England and Wales now moving towards publicly elected police commissioners it cannot be acceptable that in a Scotland with it great egalitarian and libertarian traditions and which is perhaps heading for independence we allow all de facto control over policing to remain in the hands of national and local government.

This is surely now the time for the Scottish Parliament to honour that Founding Principle which commits it to the sharing of power with the people of Scotland and to ensure that before the Bill is adopted into law there is incorporates within it provision for public scrutiny - by the people and for the people - at every level of a new policing structure. This is a time for politicians to trust the people.

Yours faithfully,
Arthur Mc Farlane,
Secretary,
Integrity4Scotland,
Mount Pleasant,
Tarbert, Argyll.


(PA29 6TU)
Tel.01880 820 404.

Anonymous said...

If you read the story in the Sunday Mail it is from the side of Neil McKechnie who was found guilty of harassing Mr Murray. Despite what is stated, the judgement was not by default due to Mr McKechnie's illness. The appeal to this is currently going through the legal system just now.

Has anyone considered that perhaps Mr McKechnie's story may not be particularly accurate considering the axe he has to grind against Mr Murray?

No Win No Fee, not for me said...

The most senior civil law judge has hit out after a firm of no-win no-fee lawyers charged £74,000 to win less than £13,000 compensation for an injured plumber.

Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger said ‘something is out of kilter’ when lawyers put in a bill of nearly six times the damages paid for a ‘minor injury’ in a case that was never contested in court.

The charges demanded by personal injury group Irwin Mitchell included fees of up to £250 an hour, to be doubled in the event that it won the case.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102345/Top-judges-fury-74-000-legal-fee-13-000-claim-kilter-world-briefs-charges.html#ixzz1mgFaNT2v


Trust a lawyer folks after reading Peter's blog, well you would need your head examined.

Anonymous said...

Comment here 14 February 2012

"Yes it is about time a protesting group was formed after all there are people protesting about the bankers and the rotten Government cuts so why not have a go at these thug lawyers and the courts because its this lot who are justifying the rest.

Wake up people and do something about it".



I think there is alot of merit in an idea like this. Ideally, a British group as problems exist both sides of the border. And I reckon a group which organises targeted demonstrations outside solicitors offices. This has not been done before and will generate alot of publicity I feel.

There are alot of good people doing some excellent work on exposing these scandals but we need to join up these efforts and co-ordinate to have the desired effect. Solicitors rely on divide and rule.

Perhaps some further suggestions on this would be welcome.

Anonymous said...

lol what a good headline and what else has been happening here ?

I read those links to the hearings at the Tribunal.It makes the Law Society look very stupid waiting all this time to do something.

More soon please

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
If you read the story in the Sunday Mail it is from the side of Neil McKechnie who was found guilty of harassing Mr Murray. Despite what is stated, the judgement was not by default due to Mr McKechnie's illness. The appeal to this is currently going through the legal system just now.

Has anyone considered that perhaps Mr McKechnie's story may not be particularly accurate considering the axe he has to grind against Mr Murray?

17 February 2012 17:09
-----------------------------------

Did anyone else spot the Tom Murray disinformation attempt?

Anonymous said...

I understand the Law Society Scotland have been caught helping a solicitor who fled to England after his firm closed.He stole all his clients money (about 400,000 from what I've been told this evening)

Could you look into this please and do something about it?

Diary of Injustice said...

20 February 2012 21:36

Please email all details you have on this matter to scottishlawreporters@gmail.com

Diary of Injustice said...

For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever, any readers having difficulty in understanding what has happened in the case reported in the article and in the Sunday Mail newspaper, are advised to note the facts as provided by the Law Society of Scotland that the now Italian based Tom Murray, who as a solicitor was sequestrated in 2001 in Scotland, has appeared before the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) on no less than three occasions.
The reports of the cases involving Mr Murray at the Discipline Tribunal are contained in the main article and can be accessed by clicking on the linked SSDT judgements as follows : (i) Law Society-v-Thomas Hugh Murray 01/03/2005 (ii) Law Society-v-Thomas Hugh Murray 25/11/2005 and (iii) Law Society-v-Thomas Hugh Murray 10/12/2009. Mr Murray was found guilty of professional misconduct in respect of misrepresentation, deception and misleading clients including his failure to tell his clients he had been barred from practising as a lawyer. The findings can be confirmed on the SSDT website and via the Law Society of Scotland.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting those links.Its all very clear now although its all very clear the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal is as much a fiddle as the Law Society of Scotland.

Both should be scrapped and completely independent tribunals put in place.The problem is with all the utter filth on these tribunals & quangos who is going to be seen as independent enough to do what needs to be done?

Anonymous said...

Did anyone else spot the Tom Murray disinformation attempt

Yes I noticed. Twice in fact on the 17th & 18th Feb.
More than Mr McKechnie had an axe to grind I can assure you.

How can The Law Society do nothing about this man because he has resided in Italy since 2001/2002?
Hasn't stopped Murray Boy trying to sue another in the Scottish Courts?

Probably gets legal aid from Scotland to do it too?

The morning I opened the Sunday Mail and saw his smarmy face with the story I was absolutely delighted.

Good for Neil

Some of us have kept quiet about this man and are simply waiting for the right time

Took me four years nearly to complete my husbands complaint at the Law Society. Four bloody years of letters and stress. Made me very ill too.

I was told initially from the Law Society that we would have have to prove that we still thought Mr Murray was still a solicitor after he was sequestrated.
How the Hell can you prove what you thought?
Luckily I came up with the proof and got him suspended for 5 years.
One up for the Ladies Tom!

Despite having legal insurance the Law Society told our solicitors that we could not be compensated for the scenario.

Lawyers look after their own and they are all tarred with the same brush in my eyes.

http://www.ssdt.org.uk/findings/findings/1228_Murray_TH.pdf

Anonymous said...

Anonymous. I know its a bit late but if anyone is interested your Mr Tom Murray is now a real estate agent in a small town just north of Lucca called Borgo a Mozzano. He sells property and no one there is aware of this stuff.........