Judges claim public have no right to know of Judicial corruption, tax fiddles or criminal records. SCOTTISH JUDGES have NO REQUIREMENT to disclose any criminal charges or convictions, allegations of corrupt made against them, their business & financial affairs which in some cases appear to constitute tax dodging schemes, or associations with well known gangsters, said the Judicial Office for Scotland in response to queries made by Diary of Injustice as part of an ongoing investigation into corrupt practices in Scotland’s ‘untouchable’ & unaccountable judiciary. The refusal was handed down during the final days of Lord Hamilton’s tenure as Lord President.
In response to a Freedom of Information Request, the Head of Strategy & Governance for the Judicial Office for Scotland pointedly REFUSED to provide any details of information disclosing whether any members of the judiciary in Scotland have declared or informed the Scottish Court Service in the past three years of :
Any offshore investments,
Unrecorded cash transactions,
Payments for outside work,
Any application of “tax efficient” schemes to avoid paying taxes,
Associations or meetings with convicted criminals,
Vehicle accidents, criminal charges, or being interviewed by Police.
The reasons given by the Judicial Office for refusing to disclose key details on what Scots judges are getting up to, are that much of the information requested is held by an ‘arms length body’ created by the Scottish Court Service which holds such information on behalf of the Lord President, rather than passing it directly to him.
Excuses, Excuses … The Judicial Office said : The Judicial Office for Scotland was established by the Scottish Court Service to provide administrative support to the Lord President in the discharge of his non-judicial functions as head of the judiciary in Scotland. Such information as may be generated in that context, including any information of the nature requested by you and which may be in the possession of the Judiciary Office for Scotland is generated for and held by the Judicial Office for the purposes of the Lord President and in our opinion falls within section 3(2)(a()(i) of the 2002 Act, i.e. held on behalf of another person. I therefore advise you that the information is not held by the Scottish Court Service. I refer you to section 17 of the 2002 Act. Your request for information in the terms outlined above is accordingly refused.
A senior freedom of information campaigner compared this arrangement to a tax avoidance scheme. He said : “One branch of the courts is holding the information on behalf of another so the other is allowed to claim he knows nothing about it. Is this the kind of honesty or transparency we are supposed to expect from our judges ?”
And, even in the face of recent coverage where it was revealed a Scottish Judge was charged with being a BENEFITS CHEAT, the Judicial Office for Scotland also argued there was sufficient regulations in place via a Statement of Principles of Judicial Ethics, a code which one whistleblower has told Diary of Injustice “is a joke”. It was also agued that the Lord President, who earns almost double the salary of the Prime Minister, is conveniently excluded from Freedom of Information legislation.
The Judicial Office continued : The Lord President has issued a Statement of Principles of Judicial Ethics for the Scottish Judiciary and has made Complaints About the Judiciary (Scotland) Rules 2011. However the Lord President is not a public authority for the purposes of the 2002 Act. Accordingly he is not required by law to provide information in terms of that Act.
As part of an ongoing investigation into Scotland’s judiciary, Diary of Injustice has featured several reports on cover ups, tax dodging, benefits cheating and sex scandal within the Scottish Judiciary, all which have been kept secret from the public. Information uncovered by Diary of Injustice, despite a lack of a judicial register of interests revealed a number of Scottish Judges who can earn up to £200K a year have been investigated & charged with, or have PLED GUILTY to a string of CRIMINAL CHARGES while at least one other judge has been charged with BENEFITS FRAUD.
Further enquiries saw Scotland’s Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) forced into disclosing data via Freedom of Information requests submitted by Diary of Injustice which can be viewed in an earlier report here : CAREER CROOKED : Investigation reveals Scottish judges are CONVICTED CRIMINALS, Drunk Drivers,Tax Dodgers & alleged BENEFITS CHEATS.
Disclosures from the Crown Office relating to judges criminal convictions can be viewed online here : Crown Office : Criminal Charges against Scottish Judges. A further report focussing on the refusal to identify any of the judges concerned features here : ALL THE LORD PRESIDENT’S MEN : Benefits cheats, drunk drivers & tax dodgers, yet identities of convicted Scottish judges to remain secret for now
The ongoing investigation by Diary of Injustice into members of Scotland’s judiciary has already revealed a series of judges appear to be involved in OFFSHORE TAX AVOIDANCE schemes, associations with convicted criminals & organised crime, prostitution rackets, accepting hospitality & payments from well known corrupt solicitors representing dodgy law firms while others on the bench are engaging in questionable investments & duties which appear to be in conflict with their positions as members of the judiciary. More on these findings can be read in an earlier article here : Offshore trusts, property holdings, insurance syndicates, hospitality from dodgy lawyers, yet no plans for a register of interests for Scottish judges
As there is no Judicial Register of Interests in Scotland at this time, there are little if no requirements for judges to disclose their criminal records or dodgy financial interests. However, a public petition has been filed with the Scottish Parliament on this matter, now being addressed by other jurisdictions around the world such as New Zealand who are moving ahead with a Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill.
More on the petition for a register of interests of Scotland’s judges can be read here : JUDGE OUR JUDGES : Petition seeks ‘judicial transparency’, asks Westminster require judiciary to ‘declare all’ to a Register of Interests and an update later next week will feature the terms of the Holyrood petition.
In an update to the ongoing investigation, Diary of Injustice has been made aware of some efforts underway to streamline the tax arrangements of certain members of Scotland’s judiciary while in another area a law firm has reported at least one member of the judiciary has asked for ‘alternative arrangements for remuneration’ for work including speeches he has undertaken for several unnamed Scottish law firms. As this clearly amounts to an effort to dodge compliance with even the current ‘standard’ of ethics for Scottish judges, more headlines are expected to follow.
Perhaps Scotland’s new Lord President, Lord Gill, will take a different approach from his predecessor Lord Hamilton, and swiftly enact a full register of judicial interests, as Holyrood is now being asked to consider.
125 comments:
No requirement for Judges to disclose criminality, tax dodging or corruption says the Judicial Office for Scotland.
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Well clearly they are the most priviliged criminals in Scotland.
Their power is a manifestation of their cloak of invisibility. We have people here sitting in front of juries, when the latter cannot serve if they have criminal records. How can this possibly be right? These people have a legal system of their own. The Judicial Office for Scotland is a criminal organisation who think they are so important the law does not apply to them. Just like our MP's who thought we should never know how much they were helping themselves.
These factions of professional criminals are above the laws they impose on others, an outrage.
The French had the right idea against tyranny.
These people are like the church five hundred years ago. Rule by legal tyranny has replaced theocracy. They run the show and they are unnacountable. That is they way they designed it. They use their power to trample on members of the public and jail criminals when the majority of them if tried on a bases of fairness would be jailed too.
Our MSP's dont want to see this, there is collusion between our so called elected representatives and the legal establishment which means Scotland is a facade of a democracy. Their crimes are hidden behind a veil of their own making.
Goody.So June has a sting in it's tail after all.I rather fancy some people thought they were going to get away with a quiet weekend.Not so courtesy of just about the only journalist I trust to write about justice and all things legal.
Keep up the good work!
Judges lawyers and bankers all crooked together and protecting each other's best interests YES!
Hmm how did I miss the one about the benefits cheat judge!
Well done - proves your better off without meddling vested interests!
Surely not?
How can any of this happen in Scotland and it follows an 'independent Scotland'?
Oh dear.I've just read your stuff about the drunk drivers tax dodgers benefits cheats and even Sheriff Lothian.My goodness.Scottish justice and your judges are a very thuggish crowd to be dispensing justice.Perhaps you are correct and Lord Gill should give them a good clean up.
Sack the lot and start again?
From the way you asked the questions I assume you probably already know the answers (even if the judges dont want to admit)
Anyway well done.More headlines please because we need to know how many judges are as corrupt as the people in front of them (and in this I mean the lawyers as well as anyone accused in one of the Crown Office fit ups)
Lord Gill needs to treat this lot live vermin and dissinfect the lot. A stinking rabble of criminals judging the public.
The reasons given by the Judicial Office for refusing to disclose key details on what Scots judges are getting up to, are that much of the information requested is held by an ‘arms length body’ created by the Scottish Court Service which holds such information on behalf of the Lord President, rather than passing it directly to him.
An ‘arms length body’ well lawyers specialise in this anyway they keep clients at arms length from the Master Policy because they are professional thugs dresses up as respectability.
You really are a network of professional teflon criminals and one day a jury may just ask "do any lawyers in this courtroom have a criminal record because we jurors cannot have" therefore on the principle of transparency and universalism we have a right to know.
No requirement for Judges to disclose criminality, tax dodging or corruption says the Judicial Office for Scotland"
Guilty until proven innocent then. Frightened to let the gene out of the bottle. How can any legal system have an ounce of respectibility with these relelations? The people who know the law and sit in judgement of others want to hide their criminallity? There will be some stink when the chanty bursts as the old saying goes.
Lord Gill "a victorian system failing society". These judges are public servants and we have the right to ascertian if they are fit to be on the bench. Personally I would use them as human projectiles from cannon's and start againt. In my opinion they are just scum. Members of the public need to state they do not have a criminal record but this deviants so used to their own way think they can do whatever they want.
If I am in court I have the right to know if a professional criminal in on the bench and so does everyone else. From what I read many of them are sodomising youngsters. They should be burnt.
Mr Salmond said : "I warmly welcome the appointment of The Rt Hon Lord Gill as Scotland’s new Lord President. His commitment to reform and modernisation is clear and under his leadership [WE HOPE SO BRIAN] I am confident there will be substantial improvements to the justice system. [LIKE EXPOSING THIS FIASCO] He is an individual of great stature and integrity [THE JURY IS UNDECIDED] and in leading Scotland’s judiciary will enjoy the respect and confidence of those around him."
BUT WILL HE ENJOY THE RESPECT OF THE ENLIGHTENED PUBLIC? SHOW US BRIAN.
Pre-nuptial agreements are becoming more commonplace among normal people. So who needs one and what will it cost?
Thought pre-nuptial agreements - or pre-nups for short - were just for celebrities? Think again. Lawyers have reported that humble farmers and entrepreneurs are among those fuelling a dramatic rise in those safeguarding wealth before marriage.
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A good start, they dont trust each other and more cash for the lawyers. And then later if it goes tits up the lawyer steals the lot and the Law Society and SLCC fine him £0.00.
You have certainly put Lord Gill on the spot.
To refuse to be transparent now is criminal in itself and the judges are not above the law even if they believe they are.
Good one Peter this idea of yours for a register of interests of the judiciary should go far.
It is of course a fact all judges are former solicitors and another interesting nugget of information on some of these judges reveals some family members are also bankers,one of whom I understand was linked to a large city fraud some years ago but mysteriously escaped criminal charges.
I sense an emotive issue here.
Judges or those about to become usually put themselves forward as saints in waiting with nothing untoward.We all know different and you are right to ask for a register of interests and greater transparency.
Good work.
and I can think of no one better able and trusted enough to write about it than Peter Cherbi and the Diary of Injustice team.
Anyway why shouldn't we question the integrity of these judges.Just because they say they are honest and make their own rules doesn't make them honest - it only makes them more prone to cover ups.
Anonymous said...
Judges lawyers and bankers all crooked together and protecting each other's best interests YES!
30 June 2012 14:00
SPOT ON!!!!!!!!
We should rebel against the lot!
Why would judges be doing offshore investments and not declaring them?oops I smell TAX AVOIDERS JUST LIKE IN OTHER WALKS OF LIFE!
I'll give you good odds the Crown Office have been using their knowledge of judges dirty linen to secure convictions on cases which otherwise would be thrown out and probably a whole lot more besides.
You are onto a big thing here don't let up on it.
The DOI Team and Inspector Cherbi are doing a great job and it is wonderful to have these criminals where they do not want to be, under the microscope.
Perverters of the truth, theives, paedophiles, the Magic Circle brigade, tax dogers, corruption, criminality.
And this is the human gutter trash that is the Legal Establishment in this country. Scots law sucks.
All I can say to your blog is *WOW*
Very well written and your investigations into lawyers/judges/politicians are top notch without any of the partisan bull of the papers.
I'll be a regular visitor from now on.
So another glaring example of 'do as I say, not as I do'.
Simply disgusting.
Sign the Petition - and tell all your friends to do the same!
No requirement for Judges to disclose criminality, tax dodging or corruption says the Judicial Office for Scotland.
So if a Judge likes little girls there is no requirement for the public to know about it. Why the difference, a teacher, would be in the dock.
What they really mean is that there is no requirement for Judges to be honest. One set of rules for the top of our legal mafia and another set of rules for everyone else.
http://scottishlaw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/campaigners-risk-their-lives-as-high.html
In one case under current study, a family member who attempted to pursue a hospital for medical negligence over the death of another family member at a Scottish hospital, was scheduled to be sectioned by the same area health authority for a lengthy spell in custody, simply in order to prevent litigation taking place in the courts and curtail extensive headlines & criticism in the media of the hospital’s actions. The claims against the hospital in this particular case included claims of negligence involving well known surgeons in particular areas of medical practice who are now known to have caused deaths of patients in additional cases in the same hospital.
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This is an alarming development and proves what I already believed that they can engineer any outcome they want. Forgive me for mentioning Hannah Arendt all the time but she wrote a totalitarian regime "collapsed the space between the public and the private spheres by insisting the state had the right to all areas of public and individual life. She saw it as breaking down the distinction between legality and illegality, so that ordinary citizens never knew on which side of the law they were, as laws changed at the whim of the rulers".
This is allarmingly the same, a psychiatric opinion can be based not on the identification of mental illness but to stop legal proceedings being taken against a health authority. The psychiatric rules or laws if you see what I mean can be used as an imstrument to section someone who is a threat to a doctor's reputation. A friend of mine argued that the state can kill thousands of its citizens, by slow acting drugs or something of that sore. I disagreed with him, not about what he said but about the kind of regime required.
To kill people on masse, the state would have to hold a tight grip on the press, and all of the other reporting methods. Even in Nazi Germany where the ideology was killing handicapped children was a medical problem which by easing the childrens suffering the word got out into the population.
Yes a doctor can use his power to hold people who are a threat to the professions because to stop this other doctors would have to state the person being heal was not mentally ill. That will never happen. I have dealt with them, that is why I know they can engineer any outcome they want.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9366573/Retired-judge-among-Britons-facing-extradition-to-Italy-on-Mafia-money-laundering-charges.html
Retired judge among Britons facing extradition to Italy on 'Mafia money laundering’ charges
A retired judge and his three business colleagues will find themselves languishing inside one of Italy’s most notorious jails this week, after being extradited to face charges of money laundering involving the Mafia.
Try to sue a doctor and you may get sectioned under the Mental Health Act. They can hold you as long as they want, and no independent enquiries into deaths in custody.
http://scottishlaw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/campaigners-risk-their-lives-as-high.html
This is what happened in Stalinist Russia when political dissidents were sectioned to get their dissident beliefs altered.
This is an alarming exceptionally dangerous development and must be read by all. Dissent against the Medical Profession in the form of ligigation sees innocent people sectioned in psychiatric hospitals in 2012 in the United Kingdom. Thank you to the press and the DOI team. Deep down I knew they can engineer any outcome they want. This story affects everyone. If one of your relatives die due to medical negligence and you try and take legal action you could be locked up in a psychiatric ward, until you die.
Campaigners ‘risk their lives’ as high rate of mysterious deaths show UK & Scotland detain people to silence grievances, deny access to justice.
The solution is simple, they are all Shipman's to some extent, and especially if corrupt pathologists are involved a morphene overdose will no be on the Death Certificate.
There is a fine line between medicine and National Socialism.
Psychiatric wards are being used the same way as concentration camps to lock up those who are a threat to doctors or in the Nazi context a threat to the state.
You go to a UK prison in most cases you will know your length of sentence, but if a corrupt doctor sections you under the Mental Health Act detention is infinite. If this happened to one of my family I would go public with the fact they were suing the Health Board, another "causal link" dear Judges. I would wear a sandwich board with the details on it outside my GP Practice.
Peter once said on his blog, challenging these people was dangerous, but with the power they have it is critical to do so.
These revelations prove what I always argue, the professions in many instances are not subject to laws. They are the law.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/26/campaign-deaths-mental-health-patients
Paul Bowen QC, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers who appeared for Antoniou at Janey's inquest and has acted for a number of families in similar circumstances, said: "It is plainly not possible for a trust to be, and to be seen to be, 'independent' in investigating a death which may have been caused or contributed to by failures of its own staff or systems."
Where is the difference then if we adapt this quotation
It is plainly not possible for the Law Societies of the UK to be, and to be seen to be, 'independent' in investigating a complaint which has been caused or contributed to by failures of its own membership or systems.
Independent regulation where doctors investigate doctors or lawyers investigate lawyers is a sham, the principle transfers to the Law Society on Scotland, SLCC and all of the rest.
Any power structures we look at have their onn built in immunity from prosecution.
They are not fit to sit in the courts. A member of the public involved in tax dodging, criminality or corruption if convicted could never be a juror so why is this tolerated. These people have had it all their own way for centuries, and we are part of the legal enlightenment. What happened to religion with philosphers such as David Hume, he lost the chair in Edinburgh for his views on there being no god until his friends lept to his defence. This is exactly the same enlightened members of the public are rejecting the dictatorial non policed power of these criminals. Kant wrote, "dare to be wise, use reason in all matters of public judgement". Because they think they have the right and can do whatever they want, does not mean it will stay that way. If man had never used his reason and courage we may still think the earth is flat.
Judicial power must be controlled, and the elimination of fear to act and ignorance to what is happening here is critical. Just like the priests five hundred years ago who relied on the fear of the masses to control them, and the belief that a person needs a priests approval to get to heaven, these lawyers are reaping what they have sown because the internet and some sections of the press are our networks of dissent. And to crush dissent, is to crush the ability to act, and then society ceases to be free. As John Stuart Mill said, "the only time the state can act against a member of the public in a free society is to prevent harm to others".
The DOI team are harming no one, just telling the truth about up till now an omnipotent rabble who are clearly above the laws they impose on others.
No requirement for Judges to disclose criminality, tax dodging or corruption says the Judicial Office for Scotland.
MacAskill will be as tight lipped as usual. What kind of country is Scotland when judges with dubious records can sit in all of our courts when the population cannot do so if they have criminal records. Jurors are asked if they know any of the participipents in a trial, but they cannot know if the Judge is a criminal. Rough justice. Brian Gill is right it is expensive, slow, failing society, and Brian you forgot to mention corrupt to its core.
This is what happens when a system has never been challenged [until now], and I have no doubt many of the actors here think we have no right to challenge them. But they are wrong. When people no matter who they are can have profound effects on the lives of others they must be challenged.
Eternal vigilence is necessary for freedom. Dissent must increase the greater the power they have.
The state is a cooperative of human beings but it is split into two camps. One group are above the law because they made it that way the other group are punished by the laws when they break them.
Judges and their closed shop system of regulation mean they are exempt as we see here in the DOI teams latest report. Like many others in Scotland where matters to do with the Legal Establishment are in the spotlight the DOI team are the only people I trust. Great journalism.
The following from the DOI team demonstrates that the Procurator Fiscal being a member of the Law Society, like Mr O'Donnell kills off prosecutions when the police have the evidence. Everywhere you go against a lawwyer this pattern always emerges. Other lawyers refuse to represent you against a crooked lawyer [so court doors are closed to you] or the PF kills it off. It is not a justice system.
So we cannot blame the police because they gather evidence, it is the Procurator Fiscal lawyer who decided what cases go to court.
REVEALED: TOP LAWYER AT THE CENTRE OF 12 NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS
EXCLUSIVE Brief who's making a career out of failure
By Russell Findlay
THIS is the high-flying solicitor at the centre of a remarkable 12 negligence claims.
John O'Donnell, 54, makes a comfortable living from conducting complicated property transactions.
But we can reveal insurers Royal & Sun Alliance have already been forced to pay out £350,000 on seven negligence claims against him. And at least five more worth £200,000 are still being contested. His firm, John G O'Donnell & Co, is based in Cathcart, Glasgow. The Law Society for Scotland, who govern the conduct of lawyers, keep his record of complaints a secret.
O'Donnell has also been accused of misconduct but the Law Society, â„¢ has not brought any cases to the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal. The claims centre on complicated transactions involving property and mortgages. 9 One case settled with an £81,000 payout involved Glasgow boxing promoter Alex Morrison, 67, for whom O'Donnell acted in the 2002 sale of his Sydney Street gym to Scottish Enterprise for £130,000. The sale money should have gone to Morrison's offshore firm, Decafarm Ltd, but was instead issued to O'Donnell's.
Decafarm complained to Strathclyde Police fraud squad but the procurator fiscal decided not to prosecute. 9 In other cases, his clients took out two mortgages on property and sold the property, paying off one mortgage. The others lender then had to pursue the solictor for negligence to get their money back - and his insurance paid out.
Many people ask me which legal firm to recommend them to trust. I can't answer that. There are none.
Yes, I know of one or two very small, hard working legal firms .... but all things depend ultimately, on who you are, what you want them to do for you .. how much money you have (of course) ... and .. well .. even the most honest legal firm sometimes has a fly in the ointment .. so to speak .. so at the end of the day, you can't really trust any of them at all. You put your life and your money at risk, when you go to see a lawyer - even more so than smoking a cigarette.
Peter is right, they are a bad mendacious lot and as Mr Francis learned to her cost even when they are wrong their pals look after them. They must be the most unjust human beings in Scotland, or on the planet. They are powerful, calculating, ruthlessly crush clients and are a danger to you all. Some of you will learn this the hard way, so beware.
A judge as a benefits cheat and look how much they are on - 200K or more what a flippin disgrace and what about the cases he was involved with?Better check his decisions as he/she sounds like a thoroughly dishonest character not able to be trusted (like many of the judiciary)
I am more than a little concerned over what you have written as a case in the Court of Session which involves a friend of mine has encountered severe bias in terms of rulings in favour of the bank who stood by while solicitors used false permissions to withdraw large sums from a client's bank accounts.The client in question was already dead yet solicitors produced several large cheques signed by him in their favour which clearly is not possible.I suspect an arrangement with the bank and the judge has some financial interest as it cannot be someone who is already dead can sign cheques and give orders for solicitors to uplift tens of 1000's supposedly due to them for work no one is willing to clarify or prove took place.
Self Regulation is adjusting, ruling, or governing itself without outside interference; operating or functioning without externally imposed controls or regulations.
No controls no outside scrutiny of what is being done. In other words no laws and this is the reason Scotland's legal profession from the humble clerk to the top man are at liberty to do as they please.
The people who designed this system did so to protect their interests, not clients. We should expect lawyers to ruin us because there are no safeguards against it.
One senior Law Society official over the latest Judicial Factor appointment contained a bizarre claim that “West coast law firms are generally considered to be more dishonest than firms located closer to the Law Society’s operations base in Edinburgh”.
Well the Law Society do not want any clients to go to Law Firms in the West of Scotland so stay away from them, It's Official, The Law Society want to assure clients.
If someone made a bomb shelter they would want it bomb proof, to escape the Luftwaffe during WWII. Similarly lawyers want bomb proof complaints systems that protects them to the limit.
The Law Society and SLCC and the other LDU's etc are just that bomb proof protection for lawyers. The system was never set up to protect the public, and it never will. Only people with attitudes like Douglas Mill ever deal with complaints, that is why clients cannot get justice.
Corrupt judges is not much of a surprise to me given most 'pillars of society' are now revealed to be false,crooked or generally working against the rest of us.
Time for these judges to declare all their interests and all the bungs they seem to be hiding before your idea of a register of interests takes hold.
Having followed your blog Peter for a number of years now I see repeated criminality from these legal gangsters. I think they are the ultimate manifestation of human vermin I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.
They enforce legal check mate on the client when the latter has been battered by one of their own so that the client cannot do anything.
I do not know much about the man taking over from Hamilton, but I will have to see the reforms kicking in as I we have all been here before many times. Honesty and profitability are mutually exclusive for these people. I am not totally convinced they would murder people to silence them if they could. I have learned like you Peter that the Legal Establishment don't do justice. They are bad wicked bastards, all of them. If I could produce x rays I would put beams through their heads and give them all brain tumours.
Julian Danskin.
This paedophile lawyer served a paltry 9 MONTHS in prison for abusing young boys in his care. This was just HALF of the original 18 MONTHS dished out by a lenient sheriff.
One of his victims committed suicide, meanwhile the others continue to serve life sentences. Two thiefs who blackmailed Danskin received 10 YEARS in jail. Scotland's courts routinely protect child abusers and crooked lawyers [same thing] - but are merciless when dealing with petty offenders and legal profession whistleblowers. Like I said they are evil scum.
If any people are new to this blog beware, it is about one of the most ruthless vile professions on the planet. You do not want to be a victim of them, get educated enlightenment is critical.
A client is like a person with a spear standing alone against a mass of lawyers with artillary. Lawyers do not draw blood {oh no they hate the client having the luxury of a quick death] they draw the will to live out of the human soul.
Solicitors up and down the length of Scotland - and the rest of the UK, can, and frequently do, have long records of client complaints ranging from negligence, embezzlement, theft, faking up files, overcharging bills, drawing out legal disputes & business just to bump up their own fees, stealing from deceased's wills & estates so that family get nothing, selling clients houses to lower bids from colleagues in the legal & financial profession for favours .. and much much more ... and while Scotland's 10,000 solicitors accumulate even more complaints on a daily basis, the Scottish public never gets to know about this ..... so literally, a solicitor can (and does) rip off hundreds of clients for the same thing, each client never knowing about the other (unless of course they know each other or see a press report on their crooked solicitor.
The Law Society refused to investigate my lawyer and from what I know now I am glad they refused. It would have been a pointless excercise for me and a rewarding one for my lawyer.
Anonymous said...
I am more than a little concerned over what you have written as a case in the Court of Session which involves a friend of mine has encountered severe bias in terms of rulings in favour of the bank who stood by while solicitors used false permissions to withdraw large sums from a client's bank accounts.The client in question was already dead yet solicitors produced several large cheques signed by him in their favour which clearly is not possible.I suspect an arrangement with the bank and the judge has some financial interest as it cannot be someone who is already dead can sign cheques and give orders for solicitors to uplift tens of 1000's supposedly due to them for work no one is willing to clarify or prove took place.
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Oh yes they are all linked to banks, insurance companies as you will see by looking at vested interests control the courts, the DOI teams previous report.
So the judiciary are just like the banks and crooked insurance companies - a law unto themselves.
Wake up Lord Gill!
Let's get this straight....
As public servants, All Judges and Sheriffs must be seen to be clean and must be able to prove that they have a character above reproach?
This is NOT what happens at the moment, where Judges, Sheriffs, Lawyers and Prosecuting Authorities act in a manner which is above the law with ZERO accountability for their actions.
From now on, any person involved in a Scottish Court case MUST have the right to ask the Judge or Sheriff if they can prove that they are clean and have a character above reproach?
This would be almost impossible for them to do so.
Therefore, under the circumstances the member of the public has a LEGAL RIGHT to know definitively if the person controlling the Court business is legitimate and therefore would have a right to veto the whole case being heard until such times as the Judge or Sheriff can prove to them that they are fit to practice?
The Scottish Judicial system has brought this on itself for Judging in their own cause too many times at the expense of the general public?
The system is now so rotten at every level that there are zero guarantees that Justice is even possible never mind likely?
Not only should all Judges & Sheriffs be investigated by police for fitness to practice, the police should be allowed to go back ten years to catch those who may have been allowed to retire on fat pensions, which in itself may be tantamount to fraud?
If they cannot prove they are clean. Walk out of Court and do not go back to Court until such times as the Judges & Sheriffs can prove they are fit to practice, afteral you can cite the Court as being an institution which cannot prove it is impartial and cannot prove that persons working there are impartial?
Hahahahahaha boom boom.
Basil Brush
I was appearing at a Court case (the very first time I had been in a court) where the Law Society of Scotland were named as being involved in fraudulent activity, although they were not a direct Party to the proceedings....?
The court room was long and rectangular in shape and the public entered through a door on the extreme left hand side of the room and the Sheriff & Clerk entered through a door on the extreme right hand side of the room, separated by a low banister?
I was standing before the Bench along side my opponent (a solicitor advocate) when the door opened and the Sheriff entered into the room?
Just one step into the room this Sheriff began a tirade of shouted abuse directed towards me, which took both myself and my opponent by surprise?
The abuse continued all the way along the corridor in the court room all the way to the Bench, whereupon the Sheriff slammed all of his bundled Court papers onto the Bench and finally sat down, at which time his face was beet root red with veins in his neck noticeably bulging?
This was me acting as a Party Litigant for the very first time?
Is this the sort of biased and prejudicial behaviour carried out by Scotland's Judges and Sheriff's where they begin cases with a 'briefed' and biased view before any evidence is led?
Is this common in Scottish courtrooms where there is Zero audio & visual recording of events (even although these facilities are installed in the court) so that blatant miscarriages of justice can be perpetrated so as to bully victims of protected interests?
If this is typical of what is being allowed to happen then the Scottish Court System is totally corrupt and is nothing more than organised crime?
I seem to remember a senior judge's son implicated in a car full of cocaine on the way to Glasgow.He got off,the driver did not..
After the incident daddy changed his tune markedly on many legal issues as press cuttings suggest..
Where the hell are the police?
They should be investigating these crooks and protecting the public?
Has anyone bothered to read all that guff in Hamilton's Statement of Ethics?
What a piece of self serving nonsense designed to cover up for the judges written by judges for judges!
So we have legal principles to stop registered sex offenders from working with vulnerable adults and children which is correct of course.
But there are no legal principles in place to protect the public from Scotland's Judges who sit in the courts. The only conclusion we can draw is that the Judicial Office have too much power and it is the duty of jurors acting in concert to ask questions about a Judges past before he or she can proceed with a trial Yes we need magistrates oversee proceedings in court but remember these magistrates are just people, not special, just trained in a particular discipline. The Judicial Office like the Law Society are doing the profession no favours and are only augmenting the mistrust we have in these people.
No requirement for Judges to disclose criminality, tax dodging or corruption says the Judicial Office for Scotland. IF EVER A STATEMENT SHOWED SCOTLAND'S JUSTICE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT TO THE CORE THIS IS IT. THE TOP PERSON AT ANY TRIAL CAN BE A CONVICTED CRIMINAL, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN SCOTLAND?
"Thorns in our flesh" this is how a former Law Society Chief Executive referred to clients of Scottish Lawyers.
Says a lot about your chances against your lawyer through the Law Society of Scotland complaints system.
And Judges, well we are thorns in their flesh too, because Judges are lawyers.
Access to justice in Scotland is non existant. These people are powerful, unaccountable, and they only open the doors of the courts in circumstances THAT DO NOT AFFECT THEIR CAREERS.
This means THEY CAN TREAT YOU ANY WAY THEY WANT. REMEMEBER THIS BEFORE YOU WALK INTO A LAWYERS OFFICE.
Until a few days ago I was totally unaware of the existence of DOI ,I answered a knock on my door and a young lady handed me a leaflet and explained how her father had tried for 40 years to get justice.
To shorten my tale ,it revolved round a solicitor handling a court case and colluding with the "opposing lawyer" I indicated my doubt of such a happening and the girl produced the Proof and left it with me to look over. It became very clear in a short space of time that there had not only been collusion but much more equally serious forms of malpractice.
The girl explained how several lawyers had been involved ,and how one lawyer had indicated that a solicitor conducting a court case was IMMUNE from any claim by a client for any errors!!!!! or mistakes !!!! made in court, colluding with an opposing lawyer is more than a mistake!!
She explained how her father (now suffering from deep depression) had made an offer to sit round the table with all concerned to discuss this and if given a reasonable answer to some very simple questions would drop the whole matter.The lawyers , the Law Society, all the politicians including MP'sMSP's and even the police completely ignored this offer. This now makes me very concerned.Several doors were going tobe knocked and several leaflets put through doors.I have posted a notice in my works canteen/rest room ,I have already been approached by some of my staff,and I wait for the next opportunity to challenge some canvasing politician regardless of the party being represented.Excellent work Peter please try somehow to unite everyone your web-site is the only means of at least making people aware of the treachery that exists within the legal system.
Anonymous said...
The Law Society refused to investigate my lawyer and from what I know now I am glad they refused. It would have been a pointless excercise for me and a rewarding one for my lawyer.
1 July 2012 23:37
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Why don't you mention your crooked Scottish lawyer on Peter's site and add them to the long list of Scottish lawyers who the Law Society of Scotland have protected from Justice?
So, let me get this right.......
The Scottish Judges & Sheriffs are the most important civic officials in all the land who's function is to solely serve the Scottish Public Interest?
And
That these important people in Society have to uphold the law of the land and in doing so must consistently and publicly demonstrate that they have a character above reproach?
But
It is clear from the information gleaned under FOI legislation and through other leaks that Scottish Judges & Sheriffs have been involved in a COVER-UP regarding several of their number who have been involved in criminality and have been happy to deceive the Scottish Public and have acted unlawfully by acting as an imposter by continuing to act as a Judge or Sheriff when they have ruled themselves out due to their failure to uphold and maintain the basic requirment of their job which is to have a character above reproach?
Their refusal to willingly and without hesitation to prove to the public that they still have the required caliber to carry out their basic job function, so that they continue to have the support & trust of the Public is such an abrogation of responsibility that as a chorum they are displaying a singular and breathtaking lack of judgment which makes it almost certain that they should all be forced to demit Office forthwith until such times as they can prove that their character is above reproach?
Any of them who protest (they doth protest too much) should be sacked on the spot and any and all entitlements, perks and pension should be withdrawn and it should be published that these individuals have displayed a character of mistrust?
Those who have been found out to be performing the function of a Judge or Sheriff whilst they were a convicted criminal should be jailed and those that are found to be involved in criminal behaviour should receive the full force of the law?
Those who are convicted criminals who have continued to act as a Judge or Sheriff should have all their cases presided over since they were convicted quashed and that under the proceeds of crime, all of their wealth should be confiscated to a fund, through which all of the cases can be heard again from a bona fide Judge (Sheriff) and thereafter the Law Society of Scotland should be fined and a levy put on all Scottish lawyers salary to put towards this fund?
Afteral, these crooks were 'brought up' and 'learned their trade' in the corrupt Scottish legal services market which the Law Society Of Scotland are responsible for regulating in order that the rogue elements are squeezed out (This is the purpose of a Regulatory System - and it is fair to say that the Law Society of Scotland have been negligent in this regard, so they have to pay the consequences)?
Anyone agree?
any information of the nature requested by you and which may be in the possession of the Judiciary Office for Scotland is generated for and held by the Judicial Office for the purposes of the Lord President and in our opinion falls within section 3(2)(a()(i) of the 2002 Act, i.e. held on behalf of another person. I therefore advise you that the information is not held by the Scottish Court Service. I refer you to section 17 of the 2002 Act. Your request for information in the terms outlined above is accordingly refused.
A safe judicial system with all of its checks and balances is the hallmark of a democracy?
When did Scotland cease to be a democracy?
These criminals have lowered Scotland's standing in the world to a rogue gangster state and the insidious way they have gone about it shows a despicably wicked forethought to deceive the Scottish People?
This scandal should lead to a total clean up of the whole judicial (let's get rich quick scheme) process in Scotland?
Those who are guilty of deception should be jailed and as a result of the whole lot of them being a party to the deceit that from now on there must be a fixed price salary for a Judge or Sheriff of £50,000 with no expenses and no perks, so as to ensure that we get career civil servant judges and sheriff's who are doing the job for the right reasons (ie to serve the People) and not for personal enrichment?
Am I correct in my reading of the situation that Scottish Police act in a totally different way to Police in the other UK countries?
EG In the other jurisdictions their police are charged with the responsibility to root out and investigate crime where ever they find it and to follow that evidence no matter where it goes - to such an extent in England where a police constable has investigated senior officers who have been perry to criminal acts and were ultimately punished?
Whereas in Scotland the police only investigate matters where the Crown Office & or the Procurator Fiscal has allowed them to investigate?
In other words, there is a filter by Scottish lawyers who are determining whether or not to protect certain people (ie other Scottish lawyers & friends of lawyers) from investigation and therefore prosecution?
Given that lawyers have this clandestine power, what about the impartiality of Judges & Sheriffs because they were once lawyers who have become accustomed to a working lifestyle in Scotland where they do not need to abide by the rules. So for this reason alone we should be especially strict on the conduct and fitness to practice of Judges & Sheriffs because they have moved out of a corrupt regime to hold their position of high office?
Events upset routine processes. This is why in the field of human nature it is difficult to predict the future. But one thing is clear, most newspapers report events but [do they always report the reasons for those events happening], especially if the Law Societies have been up to their usual cover up practices.
As one political theorist wrote, "this is why the futurologists cannot be right". As the future is impossible to predict we cannot assume what happens today will happen tomorrow. In the realm of human affairs and the perpetual flux of human lives an event may upset our routing processes tomorrow. Think about it.
Great blog to let the public understand what danger there is in trusting a lawyer. I will tell everyone I know to have a read. I am sure they will be shocked. If past clients of the same lawyers could all be united we would see repetitive corruption. I think the Law Society are the worst of all.
The client in question was already dead yet solicitors produced several large cheques signed by him in their favour which clearly is not possible.
__________________________________
You see this is what happens when lawyers police their own, clear corruption but no court proceedings.
The Law Society and it's infamous offshoots condone such actions and this is the reason trust in this profession is ebbing away. Theft is legal in Scotland if you are a lawyer.
Self regulation maximises profitability and eliminates risk. Empty clients accounts and get a bonus from the Law Society. Personally I think the latter gets a slice of the financial cake from all its law firms.
These criminals have lowered Scotland's standing in the world to a rogue gangster state and the insidious way they have gone about it shows a despicably wicked forethought to deceive the Scottish People?
---------------------------------
Yes exactly, their powerful interest groups intertwined with parliamentarians who bend over in the Scottish Parliament for the legal henchmen bypassing the democratic process. Yes they control policymaking to their advantage, MSP's spit on their constituents with utter contempt and the latter are left without legal rights. As equality before the law is a critical aspect of democracy, Scotland is a country ruled by dictatorial oligarchs who protect their vested interests. The state is mean to protect the weakest in society. Scotland's MSP's protect the strongest so that the so called Lords can sit on the benches of our courts when jurors have to declare they have no criminal record. It is an outrage and yes the new enlightnment is happening exposing the omnipotent judiciary for the serial criminals they really are.
The Judicial Office are in fact saying they have no issues with judges with criminal records overseeing court proceedings. Juries must have the right to enquire about legal practitioners criminal convictions so that these thugs are driven out of the courtroom.
Ah their veil of secrecy, (always and Act of Protection said...
any information of the nature requested by you and which may be in the possession of the Judiciary Office for Scotland is generated for and held by the Judicial Office for the purposes of the Lord President and in our opinion falls within section 3(2)(a()(i) of the 2002 Act, i.e. held on behalf of another person. I therefore advise you that the information is not held by the Scottish Court Service. I refer you to section 17 of the 2002 Act. Your request for information in the terms outlined above is accordingly refused.
4 July 2012 09:12
===========================================
With reference to the above....This clip shows how mendacious and calculating these people are however, as usual with this comes a remarkable dim witted ness because they have once again demonstrated by deliberately changing their structure to avoid Public scrutiny they have shown that their judgment is corrupt?
With a CORRUPT JUDGMENT how can they be considered fit to be able to preside over cases before them if their judgment and character is so seriously flawed?
Given that they have sought to deceive the Scottish Public by avoiding scrutiny would suggest that they as a whole have something to hide and therefore the Police should move in and investigate so that all of the criminal element are severely dealt with?
Should the Scottish People report the Judges, Sheriffs, Crown Office, police & the Law Society of Scotland to the MET Police's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)?
The great Scottish Philosopher David Hume incurred the wrath of the Church of Scotland because in all his writings about the human soul or the {immaterial substance} there was no place for God. Now Hume rejected the idea of the soul which had grave [no pun intended] consequences for the resurrection and the afterlife. The Church naturally out of self interest tried to filter Hume by trying to impeach him, silence him, by preventing his getting the chair in Edinburgh and failed. Hume argued along these lines approximately "they want to throw me to the dogs and they think they have the right to do so". You see the Churches used to execute people on the premise they had offended God, but the reality is that those executed had challenged the self interests of the human clergy. The so called trumped up accusation of blasphemy simply gave them an excuse for crushing dissent.
Well I think our Scottish Legal Establishment are in many ways the same in their opinions about us. They think we have no right to question or expose their corrupt practices. They are their own worst enemy because the Judicial Offices decision here is only going to fuel further debate about the legitimacy of the legal structures that filter out human beings depending on how important they think certain sections of society are. Just like today, the new enlightenment perhaps Hume would have wrote "they want to leave ruined clients without legal rights and they think they have the right to do so". No tyranny even those behind a veil of secrecy can last forever because as Marx wrote “ideas gain their material force when appropriated by the masses”. This material force is gathering so that one day few people will trust Scottish Lawyers.
Anonymous said...
The Law Society refused to investigate my lawyer and from what I know now I am glad they refused. It would have been a pointless excercise for me and a rewarding one for my lawyer.
1 July 2012 23:37
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Why don't you mention your crooked Scottish lawyer on Peter's site and add them to the long list of Scottish lawyers who the Law Society of Scotland have protected from Justice?
----------------------------
His name is Cameron Fyfe and he took on a litigation case against my employer when he was a Partner in Ross Harper. Later when his actions showed {I still have all of your documents Cameron for the day I meet your other clients in the same situation) he was on my employers side, I learned he like all Scottish lawyers are insured by Royal Sun Alliance, the Law Society Master Policy, yes Royal Sun Alliance My GP, all medical consultants yes Royal Sun Alliance, who examined me could find nothing wrong with me but their insurers would have been paying my damages.
Do not get injured at work, the so called professionals all share the same insurers. And this is the reason they get three years Legal Aid money for cases they can never win. Lawyers, doctors, and employers may as well be directors of RSA. Injuries that are not visible, eg RSI, and many others which make people go to lawyers are always covered up, the system has been designed that way.
So when your lawyer tells you he cannot take your case to court [after making three years legal aid money] because the medical reports are against you now you know that even if you have been injured and the doctors know it, you will get £0.00 damages. Oh and even by some miracle if you got to court, yes the Sheriffs are insured by Royal Sun Alliance too. Look at the DOI teams report on Vested Interests Control the Courts, which backs up what I am saying here.
The Law Society told Peter's lawyers to stop representing him and the Law Society phoned the Legal Aid board to get his Legal Aid stopped. More filtering of a clients rights to protect members of the Law Society Mafia.
All the best.
Café owner faces losing home and business after no-win no-fee lawyers rack up £33,000 bill... fighting a £2,000 compensation claim because the gasman slipped over.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2168714/Caf-owner-faces-losing-home-business-win-fee-lawyers-rack-33-000--fighting-2-000-compensation-claim-gasman-slipped-over.html#ixzz1zluYc5f7
Anonymous said...
Until a few days ago I was totally unaware of the existence of DOI ,I answered a knock on my door and a young lady handed me a leaflet and explained how her father had tried for 40 years to get justice.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Yes my friend they are a law unto themselves, the Law Society of Scotland are responsible for client suicides. We know what you posted on the DOI blog is fact, we have been there too. Hand out leaflets, tell your friends, challenge your MP's and MSP's. What is happening here is criminal and spread the word and be part of the new enlightenment to proyect yourself, family and friends.
These lawyers are radical evil, and they have a filtering system where they refuse to represent any client who has been ruined by one of their buddies, result legal theft of clients assets, childrens inheritance, the list goes on. Tell everyone and we will collectively stop this legalised corruption against voters who falsely believe we live in a democratic country. When your legal rights are removed because no lawyer will represent you a country is not democratic. It is being controlled by a faction of teflon criminals. Your vote cannot change self regulation unless people unite and take the campaign to the next level of uniting clients. And with the massive increase in private property with private housing the lawyers are rubbing their hands will glee as there is much for the taking.
The DOI team are brilliant and they made a grave error letting Penman off the hook. Best wishes to you all.
Who do the Judges answer to?
With the rise in the no win no fee lawyer brigade I have refused on a few occasions to let people get a lift in my car. It is simple, I have been driving for thirty years have never had an accident. But there is always the first time so I have decided the no win no fee lawyers are to blame for my decision.
Tonight a friend asked for a lift and I said no, and explained why. He was annoyed because he said he would not sue me. I said a lawyer offering you £4000.00 compensation may change your mind. This country is going like the United States. My sister got hit be another car when she was stationary and a no win no fee legal team were hounding her on the phone. She was parked in a supermarket car park and the reversing motorist was doing two perhaps three MPH. Such is the culture of greed and corruption. My advice keep people out of your cars and you will minimise claims, if the unforseen should occur.
Scotland is a country where punishment for crimes depend on who you are. It is simply about difference. If lawyers and the man in the street steal public money, one is protected by his union and the non lawyer faces the public courts.
The legal system is designed like a single road splitting into a Y shape. Everyone is on the single road but then the left branch goes to the Law Society of Scotland and the right branch goes to the courts. The Mr Lockharts are exonerated for £670K legal aid claims and making an old lady homeless and the man in the street who claims £4000.00 Legal Aid dishonestly appeared in the Sheriff Court. The system filters out lawyers for exoneration by their buddies. And the same lawyers [all members of the Law Society of Scotland] judge us in their courts we pay for. Now are we being taken for fools, do these criminals think we cannot challenge them?
How can this be called a justice system? And you know what is the ultimate insult. Our MSP are kicking us in the guts too, because they all support this system. Who said Scotland was a democracy. Having a vote means nothing if the Scottish Parliament is filled with like minded men and women who bend over for Austin Lafferty's mob.
The Law Society of Scotland are the unelected Government. MSP's they are traitors to those who voted for them.
In economics a cartel is an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition.
The Law Society are the same, maintain fees at a high level and they are linked to the insurance companies with the objective of preventing claims against the Master Policy. Lawyers have no competitors, and are not punished for their crimes. They know they will not be punished and that is the reason for poor legal services and corruption. If structural engineers were as good as lawyers buildings would be collapsing all of the time.
What are the criteria these Judges and Sheriffs are employed on and who is responsible for their employment?
If the judges are this good at laundering their dirty information then just imagine how good they'll be at laundering dirty money and keeping it off the books.
They must hate the idea of a register of interests and I'm sure they will resit any attempt to make it happen.
Government plans to extend powers to spy on personal computers
Police could routinely hack into personal computers without the need for a warrant under new plans from the European Union.
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
5:52PM GMT 04 Jan 2009
The technique, known as "remote searching" involves bugging computers in homes and offices in order to monitor website use and email traffic.
The Home Office is backing proposals by the EU council of ministers to extend electronic surveillance on private property.
It would allow other European nations to request surveillance by British police.
The proposals have raised concerns among civil liberties groups and Shami Chakrabati, director of Liberty, said: "These are very intrusive powers, as intrusive as someone busting down your door and coming into your home.
"The public will want this to be controlled by new legislation and judicial authorisation. Without those safeguards it's a devastating blow to any notion of personal privacy."
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said the proposals may benefit law enforcement but added: "The exercise of such intrusive powers raises serious privacy issues. The government must explain how they would work in practice and what safeguards will be in place to prevent abuse."
Terrorists, paedophiles and organised criminal gangs have been exploiting the internet in recent years as a way of avoiding traditional phone taps used by investigators.
Britain already allows remote searching under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and police have carried out a small number of operations among the 194 clandestine searches conducted last year.
The police can use a number of techniques which include sending a computer virus through an email which infects the computer if opened.
They can also use a surveillance vehicle or neighbouring property to hack into a wireless internet connection.
The most intrusive technique involves breaking into a property to fit a device to a computer which logs key strokes on the keyboard and transmits the results back to a listening station.
The Association of Chief Police Officers said remote surveillance was regulated by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa).
A spokesman said: "To be a valid authorisation the officer giving it must believe that when it is given, it is necessary to prevent or detect serious crime and the action is proportionate to what it seeks to achieve."
MI5 and GCHQ monitor the internet through a network of "black boxes" attached to servers but they are looking at ways of expanding the system and want to be able to link up more government databases to catch criminals.
A Home Office spokesman said there was no timescale for the introduction of the latest plans but added: "The UK has agreed to a strategic approach towards tackling cyber crime on the same basis as all member states.
"We fully support work to develop an understanding of the scale and impact of electronic crime across the EU and will work with member states to develop the detail of the proposal."
As we have been reporting for years Legal aid is the golden goose of the legal mafia. They have been stealing decent men's livelihoods in civil courts to prop up the criminal lawyers making a fortune from defending their serial criminal thug pals
Fourteen lawyers reported after being accused of fiddling Legal Aid - but not one prosecution
LEGAL aid bosses have reported 14 lawyers to prosecutors for allegedly fiddling a fortune in taxpayers' cash - but not a single one has been put in the dock. Eleven suspected fraud cases were marked no proceedings, one lawyer was declared insane, one died and the other is still being considered.
Crown officials did not identify any of the lawyers involved or reveal the scale of their alleged fraud. The revelations were made by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service director of operations Scott Pattison in response to a freedom of information request. His first reply identified 13 cases reported to the Crown Office since 2005. He later revealed there had been a 14th case. He said: "The Scottish Legal Aid Board did not submit a crime report but were assisted by the police in carrying out further inquiries." Mr Pattison added that this case was also marked no proceedings by the procurator fiscal.
Last year, Scottish lawyers were given £155million of taxpayers' money for legal aid work. Despite public spending cuts biting elsewhere, they have opposed justice secretary Kenny MacAskill's attempt to reduce legal aid costs. Legal reform campaigner Peter Cherbi said: "It seems that the Crown Office - which is run by lawyers - has one rule for the legal profession and another for the rest of us. "If you receive taxpayers' money, you should be open to full public scrutiny." And MP Brian Donohoe added: "This is outrageous but hardly surprising given that it's lawyers regulating lawyers. "We need an independent system of regulation. Until that happens, people will have no confidence."
The Sunday Mail have led the way in exposing lawyers accused of legal aid rackets. Four months ago we revealed that Kilmarnock solicitor Niels Lockhart, 60, raked in more than £600,000 in two years. Legal aid watchdogs ruled that Lockhart made dodgy claims but did not call in police. He is still practising but no longer claiming legal aid. We also exposed three lawyers who worked for Paisley firm Robertson & Ross. Ian Robertson was forced to hand back £221,847 in claims and banned from further claims. Colleagues Fraser Currie and Alastair Gibb were also banned.
And last year we told how a lawyer banned from claiming huge sums of legal aid was back in business. Steven Anderson, 52, who worked in Springburn, Glasgow, pocketed £560,330 in one year. Slab blocked £500,000 of pending payments and banned all future claims by Anderson, but he was not struck off. Slab said: "We provide all relevant and available information to the police and Crown Office. It is for the procurator fiscal to decide if there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution."
=================================
Some Justice Lord Gill, it is slow and failing society and also turns a blind eye to lawyer theives. The Procurator Fiscal is a member of the Law Society so he or she will never prosecute any lawyer never mind fourteen. Scotland's international reputation and its people [not citizens because they are meant to have legal rights] are suffering because of a legal oligarchy that MacAskill adores. They should have been tried but of course the courts legal actors are members of the Law Society too.
Some club, join it and you are immune from prosecution.
That is some excuse they offered you in their reply.. just goes to show judges care nothing about transparency.
btw great blog am happy to know there are people like you able enough to challenge clear cases of corruption in the justice system
This country is not democratic because we are not equal before the law.
Mr Salmond,
Why do you sit on your backside and let the Law Society of Scotland systematically ruin the lives of the people your party claim will be better off in an Independent Scotland? I trust you as much as I trust a Scottish lawyer. When old ladies can be forced out of their homes and the lawyer is exonerated you clearly have no problem with this, oh I forgot you politicians have an exemption claus "You can never comment on individual cases" saves you being forced into a corner eh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/06/british-democracy-decline-report
Democracy in terminal decline. They tyranny of the minority and the apathy of the majority.
The Law Society seems to lurch from one crisis to another. They have paid huge amounts of money to shut down the Solicitors From Hell website. Initially the actions were confined to its members suing for libel. O.K some solicitors were unfairly listed.
However, in the latest action the Law Society include harrassment claims for good measure. But what a mistake that was and the judge gave the game away in his judgement. If you cannot sue a journalist or blogger because the publication is true – it’s fine to sue for harrassment instead. So the message seems to be to solicitors and everyone in fact - if the publication is untrue and you are defamed – sue for libel. Or if you are correctly exposed for wrongdoing, sue for harrassment as an alternative.
That part of the judgement will go down as a grave error. The Law Society could have confined this to libel and probably still succeeded. However, by introducing harrassment into this they have got a whole bunch of folks steamed up. When journalists and the Libel Reform Campaign sit down and digest the implications for free speech there will be hell to pay.
And now the floodgates are open which one of the Law Society’s members is going to be the first to bring a harrassment claim. Keep a close eye on the court listings – that might be sooner than you think.
And in the meantime just see how busy the three websites which have replaced Mr Kordowski’s site get. According to Mr Hudson of The Law Society these sites are being monitored but currently ‘pose no danger to the public’. Glad to hear that Mr Hudson. We thank you for confirming that and the research which must have been carried out by the Law Society to qualify you to make such a statement on the public’s behalf.
-------------------------------
HARRASMENT OR LIBEL, EITHER WAY THE OBJECTIVE IS TO PREVENT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
THE JUDICIAL OFFICE FOR SCOTLAND'S JUDGES ARE ABOVE THE LAW TOO. NEVER TRUST ANY PROFESSION THAT DEMAND THIS LEVEL OF PROTECTION.
Mr Cherbi
I had to come along and read your blog after hearing all the fuss about you from the Law Society. I'm sure we deserve the scandal you continually seem to cause us as a profession.
Incidentally you are quite right on the leadership problems of the Law Society. Douglas Mill and colleagues have made an arse of us but no one has the guts as you know to do anything about it.
Truly a case of cowards following their misguided leader over the cliff ?
=============================
A lawyer telling the truth for once, good on you. Mr Mill and his colleagues will be boiling the oil to fry you if they find out who you are.
This lawyer is right when he or she wrote "we deserve the scandal you continually seem to cause us as a profession". Yes and now the Judicial Office for Scotland deserve the scandal they have contributed to. Have then never heard on the saying about stopping digging when in a hole?
Only clients can regulate lawyers in cyberspace.
Glad to see the New Zealanders are going ahead with their own register of interests for the judiciary and please note the open amount of debate about it in NZ not like in Scotland where it appears most of the 'reforms' have to be published by bloggers and the press before anyone in politics or the judiciary bothers about it.
Good work all.
Salmond kisses lawyers asses said...
Mr Salmond,
Why do you sit on your backside and let the Law Society of Scotland systematically ruin the lives of the people your party claim will be better off in an Independent Scotland? I trust you as much as I trust a Scottish lawyer. When old ladies can be forced out of their homes and the lawyer is exonerated you clearly have no problem with this, oh I forgot you politicians have an exemption claus "You can never comment on individual cases" saves you being forced into a corner eh.
6 July 2012 22:10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What I really hate is when Salmond & MakAskill always talk about them speaking and acting on behalf of Scotland's People?
The truth is the opposite?
By giving power to the Law Society of Scotland they are effectively sanctioning damage and fraud against all in our Society who are affected by the corrupt Judicial system and the 'so called' regulatory regime?
If they are not part of the solution to rid Scotland of these crooked Scottish lawyers then they are part of the problem?
Should anybody with an up coming court case give their lawyer a written instruction to ask the Sheriff or Judge to disclose if they are or have been convicted of a criminal offence before the hearing starts?
If Sheriffs and Judges are continuing to act ultra vires, where they are convicted offenders but still working as if they were not so that they can continue to collect their inflated salaries and where this information is being deliberately kept from the police, then should the public as part of a conscience group make citizen arrests of each sheriff & judge and take them to the nearest police station for investigation until all of the crooked ones are flushed out?
This may be the only possible route as it is the Crown Office in Scotland who give the police their instructions (different to England & Wales where the police are free to root out crime wherever they find it) and who are already implicated in defeating the ends of injustice by failing to prosecute crooked Scottish lawyers when they know (according to prime facie evidence) that their colleagues are guilty of criminal offences?
By failing to disclose facts that are germane to the lawfulness of their oath of office and position of impartiality in law, is this not in itself a criminal offence?
In effect, the Scottish man in the street has no protection from the Law Society of Scotland against crooked Scottish lawyers and no confidence in the ability and propensity for Judges & Sheriffs to act in accordance with the standards of impartiality and trust?
The very heart of Scotland's fabric of Society has been infiltrated and corrupted over time to such an extent that we are being systematically being abused and defrauded by those very people we have wrongly trusted to act in our best interests?
These crooks have treated the Scottish Public with utter contempt and have done so with a flagrant disregard to the rule of law?
No wonder the Lockerbie Trial was picked to be run under Scot's Law with Scottish prosecutors and Judges rather than under English Law?
The failure of Scotland's Judges & Sheriffs to come clean about their criminal histories and practices says more about their warped sense of judgment which may explain all of the shenanigans surrounding the bogus prosecution of Megrahi?
A multinational company that was one of the pioneers of the government's employment programme has pulled out of the scheme, saying it was no longer prepared to face further bad press and in-store protests and would now pay all its workforce.
Holland & Barrett, which used about 1,000 unpaid jobseekers over the last year throughout its 250 stores, was one of the first large companies to join the government's work experience scheme in June 2011.
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Well I am unemployed and the governments companies are failing to get jobs for their work programme patricipants. On Wednesday I have an interview in Glasgow [I am so happy} but people going into the programme are creating a human bottleneck because with all of the public service cuts and the private sector stagnation those referred by the Job Centre after a year are not being employed, hence the bottleneck.
Cameron is no fool and I do not need a crystal ball to predict his latest Downing St experiment will not work. Most Prime Ministers find a gulf between what they want to do and what they actually can do. In legal terms it is always the clients who pay the price, and in economic terms always the ordinary worker who pays. Bernard Crick called war and unemployment the two great curses of humanity, and as always it is never the guys at the top who pay the price. Just like the Judges, no one has the right to know what they are guilty of.
Where none are guilty all are.
Last year, Scottish lawyers were given £155million of taxpayers' money for legal aid work. THIS CAN BE REDUCED RIGHT AWAY. BEFORE YOU COMMENCE ANY LEGAL ACTION CHECK WHICH INSURANCE COMPANY INSURES THE EMPLOYER OR ANY OTHER PARTY YOU WANT TO SUE.
IF THEY ARE INSURED BY ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE ALL SCOTTISH LAWYERS ARE INSURED BY ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE. SO THE LAWYERS WILL TAKE YOUR CASE FOR THE LEGAL AID MONEY BUT YOU WILL NEVER GET YOUR DAY IN COURT.
THEY MAKE MILLIONS OUT OF LITIGATION, BUT THEY COVER UP INJURIES IN THE PROCESS BECAUSE THE LAWYERS AND DOCTORS INSURERS WOULD HAVE TO PAY YOUR DAMAGES.
YOUR LAWYER IS WORKING FOR YOUR EMPLOYER TOO = ZERO COMPENSATION.
LEGAL AID = MONEY FOR NOTHING BECAUSE THEY WILL DO NOTHING FOR YOU.
I have an acquaintance who knows a Sheriff....
The Sheriff told him, 'Oh I make mistakes all the time. It is their own fault for being in my courtroom. It comes with the territory....'
Is this environment and standards we have to put up with in Scotland?
ie, Getting decisions right based on evidence has no relevance in their 'version' of justice, an attitude which makes it more than highly likely that in this kind of environment, justice can be bought and sold on a whim?
Truly a case of cowards following their misguided leader over the cliff ?
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Cannot argue with this. Mr Mill is a man who regards clients as "thorns in the flesh" because he is an immature brat who believes we should roll over and die when one of the brotherhood of lawyers ruins us. He would want us shot if the he was the client. Yes he was a misguided leader of a faction who have a criminal reputation they have earned with their ruthless exploitation of clients over the years. He is a hypocrite. Good to see a lawyer being honest for a change.
I understand one of Scotland's 'premier' law firms is blaming you for losing them a multi million pound contract and thus forcing them into a merger they didn't want.
Care to comment?
I remember Mr Tom McCabe's comment: "The Scottish Executive does not hold a central record of contracts and arrangements for the provision of insurance services". Yes Tom we believe you.
Well a friend of mine stopped voting for Mr McCabe because the links between the lawyers and our MSP's stinks to high heaven. I am not accusing Mr McCabe of any wrongdoing, because the mob we call MSP's are all biased towards the Law Society.
The prescription is simple, insure all by Royal Sun Alliance and no one ends up in court, because the Sheriffs, Judges and the other subordinate reprobates stick together. They are a team deticated to preventing those who want to sue any professional their day in court. Mr McCabe's and all MSP's are dedicated to helping them. He wrote to me about a matter and pointed me in the right direction. But if I wrote to any MSP about a Scottish Lawyer, well that would be a potato to hot for any MSP to handle. In this context MSP's are the same as lawyers, they are selective who they are prepared to help. They are not afraid of lawyers, they are friends with them.
Cameron's Big Society Awards
The winners each receive:
a plaque;
a signed certificate from the Prime Minister;
copies of the electronic awards logos to use on their websites and publicity materials;
an invitation to a twice yearly reception at No.10 Downing Street;
a press release that appears on the No.10 website and that the No.10 staff then circulate to the local and regional press in the winner’s home area.
Well David that is wonderful, we do not want this we want the economy to grow, why don't you refuse your salary for a few months and contribute to the Big Society your self. Volunteer David, be a leader to push your own policy ideas. Oh be careful if you work for nothing you may gey some sympathy from the unemployed and poor. As the one of the participants in your welfare to work programme stated "every little helps".
Perhaps Lord Hamilton will volunteer bearing in mind he has plenty of time on his hands now he has retired.
Should the members of the Judicial Office for Scotland be sacked for willfully acting against the best interests of Sotland's People, which I believe may be a criminal offence?
Careful Peter - You may have the judges up in arms about this idea however the criminals who are plying them with favours are also going to be a little worried about the crooked judge in their pocket who may no longer be so useful to their enterprises.Same could be said for the Crown Office numpties used to selecting a judge they have the goods on for certain high profile criminal cases/civil recovery actions..
# Anonymous @ 10 July 2012 09:46
Tough.This is the price of regulatory failure and allowing others to rip off, mistreat or ruin clients.
Just goes to show no amount of palm greasing in the middle east by Scottish politicians can counter potential clients contacting a straight talking journalist.
# Anonymous @ 10 July 2012 17:41
There is much more to come out on this investigation and the petition ... so stay tuned ...
losing lawyers lots of money are you?
Great news!
Diary of Injustice said...
# Anonymous @ 10 July 2012 09:46
Tough.This is the price of regulatory failure and allowing others to rip off, mistreat or ruin clients.
Good to see this blog is reaching an international audience - the very last thing the parochial small minded politicians and lawyers in the most corrupt wee country in the world want to see.
Noble work, weel done, we are all in your debt.
Tough. This is the price of regulatory failure and allowing others to rip off, mistreat or ruin clients.
Just goes to show no amount of palm greasing in the middle east by Scottish politicians can counter potential clients contacting a straight talking journalist.
---------------------------------
Oh yes Peter and the DOI Team what can I say, spot on. If they lose contracts the solution is to clean themselves up, not complain when journalists with guts do more for Scotland than Salmond and MacAskill.
In fact those two could replace Austin Lafferty and Phillip Yelland, and vice versa, their loyalty is to each other never the Scottish People. Salmond and MacAskill and their bunch of merry MSP's should be removeed from power. Corrupt that is what they are. To think these people talk about Scotland being Independent when their factions of criminals can ruin voters and leave them rightless in 2012. Scotland is not a democracy, we got MSP crooks and the Law Society got a ganghut.
Anonymous said...
I understand one of Scotland's 'premier' law firms is blaming you for losing them a multi million pound contract and thus forcing them into a merger they didn't want.
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They should grow up, this is the new enlightenment, and I simply mean people are realising they have a gang of criminals called lawyers, sheriffs, QC's Lord such and such who are omnipotent, unnacountable looking down their legal noses at the people of this country and milk and exploit them as they see fit. This criminal faction who purport to be just are the opposite and it cannot continue.
Losing multi million pound contracts is about corruption and they should clean up their act not blame journalists for exposing corrupt practices. The problem is with the judiciary not the journalists. If the Law Society had not protected Drew Penman the profession would be the better for it. As I have wrote many times, only clients can regulate lawyers in cyberspace.
Does this premier law firm blame Drew Penman?
This about the trip to the Middle East?
I heard the locals weren't persuaded over the virtues of doing litigation with Scots firms so good one again.My you are racking up the successes aren't you.
Anonymous said...
Should the Scottish People report the Judges, Sheriffs, Crown Office, police & the Law Society of Scotland to the MET Police's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)?
The best thing the Scottish people can do is tell everyone that lawyers run the Parliament, that Salmond is really a backstabbing lawyer loving facade of a First Minister and that lawyers can jail you, steal your assets, cover up your injuries, steal your childrens inheritance with Alex Salmond's full approval. Scotland has voters but the real power is controlled by an unelected legal dictatorship who will really run amok if Salmond gets his way with independence.
Voting is pointless if the voter has no legal rights. You are the First Minister Salmond. Your comments would be appreciated?
If the new Lord President is so good why not just put the evidence to him and ask him to bring in a register of interests asap?
Anonymous said...
The client in question was already dead yet solicitors produced several large cheques signed by him in their favour which clearly is not possible.
__________________________________
You see this is what happens when lawyers police their own, clear corruption but no court proceedings.
The Law Society and it's infamous offshoots condone such actions and this is the reason trust in this profession is ebbing away. Theft is legal in Scotland if you are a lawyer.
4 July 2012 20:25
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Remember, if you go to the SSDT website and look at their end of year 2010 Report, you will see what theft by Scottish Lawyer's is called by them?
'BORROWING WITHOUT CONSENT'
Yes, this is incredulous but true, go and check for yourself!
This is but one example where the Law Society & their SSDT treat Scottish lawyer's clients with utter contempt, which betrays their agenda which is to let Scottish solicitors off with a light touch and to humiliate clients at the same time?
Anonymous said...
I am more than a little concerned over what you have written as a case in the Court of Session which involves a friend of mine has encountered severe bias in terms of rulings in favour of the bank who stood by while solicitors used false permissions to withdraw large sums from a client's bank accounts.The client in question was already dead yet solicitors produced several large cheques signed by him in their favour which clearly is not possible.I suspect an arrangement with the bank and the judge has some financial interest as it cannot be someone who is already dead can sign cheques and give orders for solicitors to uplift tens of 1000's supposedly due to them for work no one is willing to clarify or prove took place.
1 July 2012 19:11
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
This is FRAUD?
The Law Society of Scotland is a criminal gang and are well practised in fraud?
Report to police and insist they give you a crime number (not an incident number) and insist on your right as a victim of crime to be kept up to date?
If the police fail to investigate or it does not go to court then make a citizens arrest, such is your right?
Anonymous said...
Until a few days ago I was totally unaware of the existence of DOI ,I answered a knock on my door and a young lady handed me a leaflet and explained how her father had tried for 40 years to get justice.
To shorten my tale ,it revolved round a solicitor handling a court case and colluding with the "opposing lawyer" I indicated my doubt of such a happening and the girl produced the Proof and left it with me to look over.
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The collude, by god they do and their remit is always money grabbing and drive the client to the depths of despair, trust none of them. They are a murderous profession.
# Anonymous @ 11 July 2012 10:50
This is not the way reforms happen in the Scottish courts system ...
Much better to have a series of scintillating headlines regarding corrupt judges and links to organised crime, tax dodging investments, criminal records, tampering with cases etc ..
Scots have a right to know and its much better, and more transparent if its all done in public.
More headlines of bent judges in the media.Good chap.You certainly have a taste for blood! although given the issue I cant fault you there.Those New Zealanders reading this must feel themselves lucky they dont have the problems we have with our judges/legal system over here!
To all in the DOI team,
You are all a really wonderful bunch of people who demonstrate on a daily basis what it means to act in the best interests of Scotland.
Thank you.
Please keep continuing to shine a light on the corrupt practices of those in high office and those at the Law Society and Judiciary who are hell bent on causing damage and suffering to Scotland's People.
You are all just magnificent.
Lots of comments here so must be a popular issue!
Anyway just to agree with you the best way forward is headlines and lots of attention because simply handing over the evidence will only make sure it is buried forever.I trust we can trust you to make sure justice is done and be seen to be done!
SHERIFF COURT CORRUPTION OR IMPOSSIBLE COINCIDENCES?
Questionable incidents at the sheriff courts of Ayr and Kilmarnock
PART 2
As the respondent has moved his office from Mauchline (Ayr) to Kilmarnock, the case has been moved to
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.
The court date for the above-mentioned case has in the meantime been set to 19-05-2023 at 10:00 am.
On 19-05-2023 I arrive at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court and check-in at the reception. When the courtroom
opens I enter with a group of others I await my case to be called. I notice that the respondent is not
present. I sit and listen to a sea of rent arrear cases but, in the end, my case is not called.
A court assistant now explains that she saw the case listed, but that now it isn't there.
The Judge also indicated to recall something about the listing, but no more.
I have demanded a full explanation from Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on this matter and on 23-05-2023, I
receive the following response:
Quote:
'I have received a response from our IT department this morning. They have received a response from the
external IT developers confirming that unfortunately, the system does not leave a data footprint indicating
how or who processed the disposal of Friday’s hearing. I have advised court staff of this and going forward
we will make additional checks to avoid this happening again.'
Preceding a telephone conference hearing of this case on 09-06-2023, Sheriff S. Mundell briefly
commented: Quote: "Due to an error of a court employee, the listing had been removed from the court's
list."
Summary:
Note: If a defendant does not appear, the Plaintiff can ask for a default judgment against the defendant.
a) the court claims that the claim papers could not be served, as they tried several times.
b) the claim papers were actually served before the court claimed that they were not.
c) the defendant did not appear in court on the appointed date (according to Sheriff S. Mundell) under the
excuse that the summons landed in his spam box.
d) coincidentally, the day the defendant did not appear in court, the listing/appointment (according to
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court) mysteriously vanished from the court's roll.
e) The court's IT department claims that what happened could not be traced, but preceding the start of the
telephone conference of 09-06-2023, Sheriff S. Mundell commented that the listing was erroneously
removed by a court employee.
This case has now been scheduled for 30-06-2023 at 10am at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.
Contact: https://www.tradeshame.com
SHERIFF COURT CORRUPTION OR IMPOSSIBLE COINCIDENCES?
Questionable incidents at the sheriff courts of Ayr and Kilmarnock
PART 1
0n 26-10-2022, I file a lawsuit at Ayr Sheriff Court against a company for an outstanding invoice.
The court normally serves papers through registered mail or, would the mail option fail, directly through a
Sheriff.
On 03-11-2022 the defendant contacts me and confirms that he received the claim form from the court.
On 02-12-2022 Ayr Sheriff Court writes to me that they could not serve the claim on the defendant.
Quote:
'I refer to the above Simple Procedure claim and write to advise you that we have been unable to
formally serve the Claim Form on the respondent using recorded delivery post.'
In short, the letter continues to mention that for me to have the summons served by a Sheriff would
potentially cost me hundreds of pounds.
I immediately demand an explanation from the court on the matter and they respond by email:
Quote:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Good Afternoon,
We have attempted service with royal mail and they have all come back as not served. If you can get the
other side to send us an email to confirm that they have received the paperwork then we can update the
case and won't require to instruct sheriff officers. I can see your email on the thread of this email but it is
not clear who this is from.
Thank you.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indeed, I have forwarded them the email with the confirmation, as well as the defendant's contact details,
so that they could affirm. Yet the above email is the only explanation I have received from Ayr Sheriff Court
on this matter.
As the respondent has moved his office from Mauchline (Ayr) to Kilmarnock, the case has been moved to
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.
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