WOLFFE LAW: Crown Office ‘line of succession’ falters - First Minister names James Wolffe QC as Lord Advocate & Alison Di Rollo as Solicitor General

Faculty of Advocates boss to be new Lord Advocate. THE DEAN of the Faculty of Advocates - James Wolffe QC – has been named Scotland’s latest Lord Advocate.

The appointment – recommended by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and agreed by the Scottish Parliament on June 1st under Motion S5M-00255 – will see Mr Wolffe succeed Frank Mulholland QC as Scotland’s top prosecutor and head of the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).

The number two spot at the Crown Office has been filled by Advocate Alison Di Rollo – who becomes the new Solicitor General - after Lesley Thomson quit the role.

A news release from the Scottish Government said Ms Thomson – who held the post as Solicitor General since 2011 “informed the First Minister she wishes to pursue new challenges.”

The appointments of both Mr Wolffe & Ms Di Rollo – come recently after it was revealed a number of Crown Office staff have been convicted of serious criminal offences - including misuse of drugs, violence & offences against the Police.

A further report in the media revealed Crown Office staff operating an air junkets racket - reported here: Crown Office jet set junket racket - Files reveal Prosecutors spent £57K on international & domestic air travel as crooks deal plea bargains to dodge law & courts.

Among long term investigations by the Crown Office awaiting decisions - the new Lord Advocate will face a decision on whether to prosecute anyone in connection with the £400 million collapsed Hedge Fund.

The Heather Capital collapse – probed by prosecutors and Police for three years – has seen links to judges, prosecutors, top politicians, Police and even the Vatican state - revealed in considerable detail in the Scottish and international media.

It will also fall to James Wolffe’s Crown Office to decide on whether to intervene in any private prosecution brought by relatives of victims those killed in the Glasgow Bin Lorry deaths case.

The First Minister said: “I am extremely pleased to recommend the appointments of James Wolffe and Alison Di Rollo as Scotland’s senior law officers.”

“James has an outstanding legal background and extensive experience at all levels, including the House of Lords, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union.”

“Alison led the work of the ground-breaking National Sexual Crimes Unit (NSCU) for three years, having previously held the role of deputy. Her outstanding leadership in this most sensitive of areas has inspired confidence in all connected to it.”

James Wolffe said: “I thank the First Minister for nominating me to the office of Lord Advocate. If I am appointed, it will be a great privilege to serve Scotland in that role.”

Alison Di Rollo said: “I am both delighted and honoured to be nominated for this role by the First Minister and I am looking forward to working with James in his new role.”

The First Minister thanked both Frank Mulholland QC and Lesley Thomson QC for their service in the roles.

She said: “In his time as Lord Advocate, Frank has made a substantial contribution to both the law and to Scottish society. The creation of the National Sexual Crimes Unit was just one example of the increased specialisation of the Crown Office that Frank Mulholland presided over. In her role as Solicitor General, Lesley’s work, particularly around domestic abuse, was pivotal in moving towards a system that instils confidence in victims of abuse and ensures that their abusers are held to account. I thank both Frank and Lesley for their dedicated service to the Government, to justice and to Scotland as a whole.”

Frank Mulholland announced earlier in March he intended to step down as Lord Advocate after the Scottish Elections held in May.

It has since been announced Mulholland – who campaigned aggressively alongside current Lord President Lord Carloway for the removal of the key injustice safeguard of Corroboration from Scots Law - has been made a judge at the Court of Session.

Among five senators appointed to the College of Justice, Frank Mulholland QC, Sheriff John Beckett QC, Ailsa Carmichael QC, Alistair Clark QC, and Andrew Stewart QC will sit as judges in the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary.

The judicial appointment to be taken up by Frank Mulholland QC, will take effect following the retirement of a senator later in the year.

The appointment of Mulholland to a judicial position comes after the recent appointment of Lord Carloway to the top post of Lord President – head of the Scottish judiciary.

MOTIONED TO BE LAW CHIEF:

Motion S5M-00255: Nicola Sturgeon, Glasgow Southside, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 31/05/2016: First Minister's Appointment of Law Officers

That the Parliament agrees that it be recommended to Her Majesty that James Wolffe be appointed as the Lord Advocate and that Alison Di Rollo be appointed as Solicitor General for Scotland.

Supported by: John Swinney, Joe FitzPatrick Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 01/06/2016

LAW CHIEFS ON THE UP:

James Wolffe QC is a leading Senior Counsel. He became an advocate in 1992 and took silk in 2007. In 2014 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. He was First Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Ministers from 2002 to 2007, and served as an Advocate Depute from 2007 to 2010. He has extensive experience of both commercial and public law. He is a member of the Faculty Dispute Resolution Service and was also called to the bar of England & Wales in 2013.

Alison Di Rollo is a Senior Advocate Depute. She joined the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in 1985 as a fiscal. Ms di Rollo then worked in the Policy Group at the Crown Office prior to being appointed Deputy Head of the High Court Unit and later Head of Operational Policy. In May 2008, Ms Di Rollo was seconded from COPFS to take up an appointment as a trial advocate depute. She was appointed as deputy head of the National Sexual Crimes Unit in 2011 and became head of the unit in January 2013.

The Lord Advocate is a Minister of the Scottish Government and acts as principal legal adviser, but decisions by him about criminal prosecutions and the investigation of deaths are taken independently of any other person. In that way, he is not subject to the ordinary rules about collective ministerial decisions.

The Solicitor General is the Lord Advocate’s deputy. She assists the Lord Advocate to carry out his functions. She is also a Minister of the Scottish Government.

For previous articles on the Crown Office, read more here: Scotland's Crown Office - in Crown detail

PASS THE CROWN : As one Lord Advocate exits, another is set to take charge of Scotland’s ‘institutionally corrupt’ Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service

Crown Office set to have new Lord Advocate SCOTLAND'S Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) - based in Edinburgh - would not be out of place in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Seriously.

Remember the opening sketch from At World’s End – where the line of accused sing while walking to the gallows - as various repeals of statutes, rights & laws are ordered suspended.

If one were to loiter around gatherings of prosecution robes in Sheriff courts up and down the land, one would quickly discover this is how some view justice and how to score a conviction, guilty or not.

Headlines and PR please. Who cares about due process and the quality of evidence – that is the stuff of entertainment, drama and fiction.

Thank goodness then, for criminal defence solicitors … well, at least the dutiful, attentive & hard working ones.

Evasion, introducing dodgy evidence into a trial – lets just call it lying, telling plod to read from an empty note book, dead people on witness lists, private briefings against judges who signed a petition to retain key parts of Scots Law such as corroboration.

The Crown has done it all. Ask any solicitor – well, a decent one. Even the judiciary know it. Not too difficult to spot.

Incompetence, corruption, links to gangsters, stage managed media, interference in investigations and subtle threats to anyone who stands in their way of a quick verdict.

What £110 million a year – the cost of the Crown Office - buys you. Really.

The truth is, standards have slipped at Scotland’s Crown Office. And we all know it.

Some may say, were there ever any real standards at the Crown Office? Well - there is an unpalatable answer to that one.

But let us not forget, we are here today to sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the end of one Lord Advocates career in office ... and the beginnings of another.

Among the massed ranks of gangsters, corrupt public officials, legal aid thieving lawyers, the occasional declare-dodging judge waddling along with gemstones, krugerrands, loads-a-property and offshore trusts jingling in their back pockets, there are a platoon of prosecutors who are tasked with keeping the lid on all of it.

That lid – needs a boss.

You know – someone to keep Edinburgh’s version of Al Capone’s Hotel Lexington in fancy red carpets and baseball bats.

And so we come to the role of Lord Advocate. The boss of it all.

The current Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, announced back in March he plans to step down in May.

Mr Mulholland previously served as Solicitor General and succeeded Dame Elish Angiolini QC as Lord Advocate in 2011.

Speaking of his intention to quit, the Lord Advocate said: “It has been a real privilege to serve as Lord Advocate, leading Scotland’s prosecution service and providing independent legal advice to the Scottish Government . However, after nine years as a Law Officer – the last five as Lord Advocate - I have decided it is the right time to step down and do other things.

“In recent years the Crown has embedded specialisms in the way it does its job. Our expertise in handling offences including rape, domestic abuse, Serious Organised Crime, Counter Terrorism and Cold Cases has helped us become one of the most effective prosecution services in the world and given victims greater confidence to report crimes.”

He added: “It’s been an honour to do this job working with so many dedicated and talented people to deliver justice in some of the most demanding and challenging of cases.

He was duly praised by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who said: “Frank Mulholland has fulfilled the challenging roles as head of Scotland’s prosecution service and as the Scottish Government’s principal legal adviser, with dedication, energy, integrity and intellect.

“He has played a central role in many innovations to our justice system, including leading Scotland’s first successful ‘double jeopardy’ murder prosecution and agreeing a historic communiqué with the heads of prosecution services from across the UK and Ireland to work together to tackle the cross-border crime of human trafficking.

“It is clear that he has worked to bring about change to ensure that the system makes a real difference to people’s lives, and his dedication to the law and his compassion for others has been behind that drive.

“Frank has made a substantial contribution to the law and Scottish society. I’m confident that he will continue to do so and I want to take this opportunity to thank him for his service and wish him well for the future.”

Nothing about the decision to refuse to prosecute anyone over the deaths of six members of the public in Glasgow Bin Lorry deaths case – and countless other deaths in similar situations.

Nothing about inaction in a three year probe of a £400 million collapsed Hedge Fund with links to the judiciary who just happened to represent Scotland’s top politicians and former Lord Advocate.

Nothing about shredding statistics so the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee could not investigate claims in the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.

Nothing about significant numbers of collapsed cases involving notorious Scottish crime clans – this after being fed yearly Crown Office press releases on crime gangs & professional advisers, none of whom are ever caught.

Nothing about slipping £500K of bonuses to Crown Office prosecutors for a job not well done.

Nothing about the real reasons for the introduction of Double Jeopardy – because Prosecutors were - and are - just not up to the job.

Nothing about the Crown Office role in the plot to remove Corroboration from Scots Law. And what a plot that was.

Nothing about Prosecutors very own crime gang – where Crown Office Prosecutors teamed up with criminals, leaked case files, used drugs & much more.

Oh, and nothing about Prosecutors escaping jail for some of the worst imaginable crimes on the go.

Of course - as we all know - fond farewells are often fond - and written by candle light with a teary eye.

Perhaps not always fair to blame the boss, right? It’s the institution.

Some would say that. Even a clear thinking Scottish Minister, at least privately.

Institutionally corrupt, institutionally racist .. the Crown Office has been branded many things over the years, and rightly so with the evidence before our very eyes.

So, if the institution is to function as it should, a change is needed, much more than a simple elevation of another part of the problem to higher office.

Step up - the next overseas jet set junket, expenses claiming, bonus paying, investigation meddling & truth bending Lord Advocate.

For previous articles on the Crown Office, read more here: Scotland's Crown Office - in Crown detail

In completely unrelated news:

Currently, there is a dirty cash probe into the financial affairs of the Lord Advocate’s brother.

Previously, it has also been reported a relative of the current Solicitor General was convicted of criminal offences involving violence against women.

The same Solicitor General represented the Crown during the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the Glasgow Bin Lorry deaths - where a decision was taken not to prosecute anyone over the “preventable deaths”.

The Crown team’s failure subsequently forced the families of victims to attempt a private prosecution after the justice system and Crown Office, let them down.

And mystery now surrounds how one former high ranking law officer was rejected for a judicial position after intense lobbying for the candidate by a dodgy member of the judiciary linked to top politicians - raised several judicial wigs & brows.

Mulholland joins judicial bench:

In an update to this published article, the Scottish Government announced on May 11 2016 that retiring Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland has been appointed as a judge.

Among five senators appointed to the College of Justice, Frank Mulholland QC, Sheriff John Beckett QC, Ailsa Carmichael QC, Alistair Clark QC, and Andrew Stewart QC will sit as judges in the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary.

Their appointments take effect on dates to be agreed by the Lord President. Four of the appointments are to fill existing vacancies.

The fifth judicial appointment, to be taken up by Frank Mulholland QC, will take effect following the retirement of a senator later in the year.

The appointment of Mulholland to a judicial position comes after the recent appointment of Lord Carloway to the top post of Lord President – head of the Scottish judiciary.

'Bonus Starved' Crown Office staff claim £10.5 million seized from crooks, while court officials refuse to say how much has actually been paid back

Crown Office staff lacking the usual big bonus payouts have turned to seizing more of crooks cash. WHILE Scotland’s Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) battle headline after headline of collapsed prosecutions & failed investigations, allegations of corruption, evidence fiddling, racism, professional bias and poor value for money over it’s near ONE HUNDRED MILLION POUND administration & wages cost,  a glimmer of light has emerged in it’s efforts to raise the amounts of cash ‘seized’ from crooks in the last financial year to around £10.5 million, according to figures announced yesterday by the Solicitor General. with £7 million coming from convicted drug dealers, money launderers and fraudsters while the Civil Recovery Unit claims to have recovered over £3.5 million during the same period.

In announcement from the Crown Office reporting this year's POCA figures, Lesley Thomson, the Solicitor General said : "Taking over £10.5 million from criminals is another great achievement by our dedicated Proceeds of Crime teams. "Just as important as the sum recovered is the disruption caused to individual criminals and serious and organised crime groups in Scotland. "Depriving criminals of their money and assets can significantly disrupt their activities, prevent them from re-investing their profits, and make it difficult for them to carry out their criminal enterprises. When the money and assets go so does the status and power.

The Solicitor General continued : "There is no place in Scotland for those who want a lifestyle funded by crime. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement agencies to use Proceeds of Crime laws to make Scotland an increasingly hostile place for these criminals. "I also welcome today's publication of the Civil Recovery Unit's second Annual Report which provides further information about its activities over the past year."

Campaigners for legal reform have serious doubts over the credibility of Crown Office claims they pursue those who profit from criminal activities, pointing out that in cases where solicitors have financially ruined their clients and when matters were reported to the Crown Office, charges were dropped because of a perceived bias that Scotland’s prosecutors were refusing to prosecute their colleagues in the legal profession. In one recent case reported by Diary of Injustice & the Sunday Mail newspaper, a lawyer who was the subject of reports to the Crown Office, ‘moved escaped to Italy’ while the Law Society of Scotland dithered over taking further action. It later transpired the Crown Office had REFUSED to prosecute the lawyer even though matters had been reported to it’s Procurator Fiscal in Stirling.

Another equally serious issue of Crown Office failure was revealed in a Diary of Injustice investigation where Freedom of Information legislation revealed the Lord Advocate & prosecutors at the Crown Office had allowed FOURTEEN solicitors to escape charges for millions of pounds of legal aid fraud. More on this story can be read here : FOURTEEN lawyers accused of multi-million pound legal aid fraud escape justice as Scotland’s Crown Office fail to prosecute all cases in 5 years

Other than the almost accidental recovery of funds from now deceased solicitor James Muir, who stole a staggering 1.8 million pounds of legal aid from right under the noses of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, officials were unwilling to give figures for the remaining 13 solicitors apparently successful theft of taxpayer funded legal aid.

The investigation into the Crown Office and legal aid fraud carried out by Diary of Injustice also revealed one of the solicitors accused of legal aid fraud was actually married to a Crown Office prosecutor, a fact which the Crown Office deliberately concealed from the public. More on that story can be found here : Admissible Evidence ? Crown Office Prosecutor married to lawyer accused of legal aid fraud, both still working, Legal Aid Board ‘convinced of guilt’

Lindsey Miller, Head of the Serious and Organised Crime Division (SOCD) and the COPFS POCA Champion, said : “The Proceeds of Crime Act is a powerful tool in our armoury in the fight against crime in Scotland. We continue to make maximum use of the legislation to deprive criminals of money and assets. We target people who make money from all types of crime, from serious and organised criminals engaged in money laundering and drug dealing, to individuals committing tax and benefit fraud and immigration offences. We have also applied to the court in a number of cases this year to have administrators appointed to take control of houses where accused have been unable or unwilling to sell them to pay the confiscation order. This sends a strong message that the Crown will not tolerate delay and prevarication in the payment of an order. Our priority is disrupting and dismantling criminal enterprises, and we will continue to work with the police, SCDEA, HMRC and DWP to achieve this aim."

However, Mr Millar and the Crown Office have not answered questions over how much was seized from a Scottish Judge who was charged with Benefits Cheating, and is understood to have remained on the judiciary.

In the case of the Benefits Cheat judge, reported by Diary of Injustice 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 Crown Office protected their identity and refused to disclose any further details about the case, even where it was being held, despite COPFS staff regularly putting out Press Releases naming & shaming other benefits cheats.

The Crown Office have also still to answer questions over why no confiscation orders have been served on a solicitor, recently reported in the media to have committed mortgage fraud to obtain properties in Edinburgh.

A detailed investigation into the case of the solicitor falsely claiming a higher salary to obtain a morgate revealed the Crown Office had blundered and not even picked up on details published on the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal of the solicitor’s mortgage fraud, more on which can be read here : Law Society of Scotland ‘deliberately failed’ to report mortgage fraud solicitor to Crown Office as cosy Tribunal deal allows lawyer to escape justice

Another lawyer who stole 116K from clients also slipped the Crown Office ‘net’, featured in an article here : Lord Advocate Mulholland in the dock as Crown Office dithers over prosecuting yet another CROOKED LAWYER who stole £116K from client accounts

Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill said : "I welcome this excellent work by police and prosecutors, seizing millions cracking down on gangsters and their ill-gotten gains. Criminals don't contribute to our communities, they live off them and serious organised crime has an impact on everyone in Scotland, harming communities and legitimate businesses through drugs, extortion and counterfeit goods. "That is exactly why cash seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act should be used to benefit communities which have suffered from criminal acts. "Our CashBack for Communities programme invests crooks' cash in building better, safer, stronger communities, improving facilities, taking young people off the streets and putting them on a positive path. We have invested over £45m in providing opportunities for some 600,000 young people to take part in hundreds of thousands of free sports and cultural activities since CashBack began in 2007.

The Justice Secretary continued : "Last year amendments were made to the Proceeds of Crime Act to provide law enforcement agencies with additional powers to target a wider range of criminals and criminal conduct. We are continuing to look at other ways to refine the Act to make it even more effective, and we are working closely with the Home Office to do so. We have also allocated approximately £2 million funding for financial investigators in the police and the Crown Office, to ensure even more criminals are targeted." 

In spite of the Justice Secretary’s fine words over recovering assets from criminals, Mr MacAskill was quick to support Crown Office staff linked to legal aid fraudster solicitors, more of which was featured in an earlier article by Diary of Injustice here : Justice Secretary’s discredited defence for Crown Office in 14 legal aid fraud scandals as links between accused lawyers & Scots crime agencies emerge

The amount recovered by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Civil Recovery Unit in the last 12 months brings the total secured since the commencement of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) in 2003 to over £69 million, which it is claimed has been put to the Scottish Consolidated Fund to be reinvested in Scottish communities via the CashBack for Communities programme.

However, as the Sunday Mail newspaper reports, in spite of the high profile announcement from the Crown Office over this year’s £10.5 million figure of cash seizures from crooks, officials refused to give actual figures as to how much money has actually been paid back. The paper reported : “Officials also admit they don’t know how much of the £10.5million has been paid. The Scottish Court Service said: “We don’t have a breakdown.” 

A regular court observer told Diary of Injustice earlier today : “This now annual show from the Crown Office seems more like a pitch for increased salaries or the return of lavish bonus payments”.

He continued : “If you take into account the high profile failures of prosecutions in the courts, and more case collapses than I’ve had hot dinners, I wouldn't be surprised if a significant proportion of monies recovered from criminals will end up going on court fees, legal fees and lawyers jollies”

Identity of Mr Big who paid for ‘hitman’ to slash Law Society ex Chief Accountant ‘is known to Police’ as Robert Graham gets ELEVEN years for attack

Robert Leiper Graham was sentenced to eleven years for attack on Law Society’s Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming. ROBERT GRAHAM (46), the ‘hitman’ who was convicted in mid November 2011 by a majority jury verdict after being extradited from Australia to face trial for carrying out an attack on Leslie Cumming the now retired Chief Accountant of the Law Society of Scotland,  was sentenced to ELEVEN YEARS earlier this week on Thursday at the High Court in Edinburgh for his part in what was alleged to have been an attempted murder bid rather than ‘a wounding’ (as key legal insiders suspect) to warn Mr Cumming off investigating ‘crooked lawyers’.

The mysterious attack on Leslie Cumming in 2006, was the subject of private briefings given by the Law Society’s most senior officials, seeking to blame the attack on critics of the legal profession yet only one single newspaper ran the Law Society’s claims after it had become clear the attack was most likely organised by a crooked colleague of Mr Cumming connected to or from within the legal profession itself.

Reported on BBC News and in the Daily Record newspaper, Judge John Morris QC, passing sentence in Edinburgh, told Graham: "You have been convicted by a jury of a pre-meditated and sustained murderous attack on a member of the public going about his lawful business, and you did that apparently for financial gain.” He continued : "In these circumstances I'm sure you'll appreciate a substantial custodial sentence is appropriate." Judge Morris also recommended deportation for Graham after he had served his sentence.

While Graham has never admitted who paid him to carry out the attack, it is widely accepted Police are well aware of the identity of the villain(s), reported to be connected to Scotland’s legal world. However as of yet, no steps have been taken to arrest anyone else in connection with the 2006 attack, casting doubt on the ability of Lothian & Borders Police to get the individuals behind the crime, whose identity & position some say “may be causing fear & alarm in legal circles for the opening of a larger can of worms if additional arrests are ever made.”

TRIAL OF LAW SOCIETY ACCOUNTANT’S ATTACKER :

During the trial, Graham denied attempting to murder the Law Society accountant, claiming he did not assault Mr Cumming, rather he intervened in the attack, (allegedly carried out by another party) to stop Mr Cumming getting “a bigger hiding”. Graham also told the court he was born in Ireland as Paul Francis McGhee before emigrating to New Zealand at the age of nine but in Britain he called himself Robert Graham. The court also heard from a witness that Graham had confessed to a colleague that he had "done a judge in" and was paid £10,000 by a guy in a BMW to give him "a good working over".

The witness who told the court of the alleged boast by Graham, scaffolder Nicholas Wells said he started work at Wembley Stadium in January 2006 and Graham joined a few weeks later. In a statement to police, he said: "He told me around this time he had done a judge in in Edinburgh, having jumped out some bushes at him. I can recall him telling me the guy from the BMW paid him £10,000 to do the job and told him to give the guy a good working over." Mr Wells told the court he had been approached by the police at a site he was working on in Edinburgh in 2009. Asked if he had told them the truth, Wells replied: "As I remember it at the time." He added: "I was taking a lot of drugs at the time. I was taking a lot of sleeping tablets ... it is hard to remember it all clearly now."

The court heard that during the assault, Mr Cumming grasped the balaclava worn by the attacker in an attempt to pull it off while further DNA evidence was recovered from the Barbour jacket Mr Cumming was wearing at the time of the attack. Additional DNA material was taken from Mr Cumming before doctors treated his wounds, and the DNA was linked back to Graham in tests.

At the conclusion of the trial, John Logue, Area Procurator Fiscal for Lothian & Borders, said: “In 2006 Robert Graham targeted and tried to kill Leslie Cumming because he was paid to do so. Today, almost six years later, he has been found guilty of this vicious and cowardly attack after being extradited from Australia.”

Mr Logue continued : “He was brought to justice by the perseverance and diligence of officers in Lothian and Borders Police who tracked him down, assisted by Interpol and authorities in New Zealand and Australia. I hope that today’s successful prosecution will secure the confidence of the Scottish public that those who try to evade justice will be pursued and brought before the courts.”

Commenting after the majority verdict convicted Robert Graham of the attack on Mr Cumming, the Solicitor General for Scotland, Lesley Thomson QC, said : "He uses the name Robert Leiper Graham in this country and Paul Francis McGhee in New Zealand. The Crown is not in a position to say he is either of these people at this stage." Ms Thomson also said when Graham left New Zealand in 1999 there was an outstanding warrant out for him and that a notice had been served on him in a move to deport him from Britain.

Leslie Cumming, former Law Society of Scotland’s Chief Accountant. At the end of the trial, Mr Cumming commented : "The police perseverance and professionalism and the Crown Office input have been vital in securing the result. It's important to me that I got that closure and I just want to thank the members of the team who were involved in this complicated case for their efforts on my behalf. The actual event was horrific and bloody and having to explain to the court in such detail as we could recall at this time was traumatic for my wife and me. I hope now the trial is complete and the result is known that this nightmare has ended for us and we can get back to normal life."

However, the multi million pound investigation carried out by Lothian & Borders Police and the subsequent conviction of Robert Graham left more questions than answers over why the attack occurred in 2006, who allegedly paid Graham to carry our the attack and why Law Society of Scotland officials and a media outlet were so keen to pin the blame for the attack on critics & campaigners in a year where the Scottish Parliament had begun a major investigation into the Law Society of Scotland and its notoriously prejudiced closed shop handling of the regulation of crooked lawyers.

Over the years, insiders have claimed the Police have a good idea of exactly who ordered the attack on Mr Cumming, some even linking up the incident to other well reported frauds in Scotland which involved millions of pounds, well known crooked solicitors and a banker. However Lothian & Borders Police have said nothing officially on any of these claims.

The answer to the attack may well lie in Leslie Cumming's role with the Law Society of Scotland, where as its Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Accountant, Mr Cumming was in charge of teams of inspectors who audit the financial accounts of law firms to ensure compliance with the Law Society’s rules (rules to keep accounts, not rules to rip off clients as much as possible and undetected). Mr Cumming was also involved in disciplinary cases, of which there are many, many resulting in no criminal convictions where, for example a solicitor might make off with half a million pounds from a deceased’s client will, and get away with it, and be allowed to carry on working.

It is also noteworthy Mr Cumming in his role as Deputy Chief Executive played number two to the also now former Chief Executive Douglas Mill, who resigned in disgrace after a scandal involving the fiddling of Master Policy insurance claims against crooked lawyers which was exposed by the now Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney during a meeting of the Justice 2 Committee later the same year Cumming was attacked. The video footage of Mr Swinney’s exposure of Douglas Mill & the Law Society’s Master Policy fraudulent insurance fiddle scheme, can be viewed online HERE.

The conviction of Graham for the assault on Mr Cumming also closes the book on the Law Society’s attempt to fit-up critics & campaigners for the 2006 incident, where it was reported, senior Law Society officials had even provided statements to Police urging them to ‘collar’ persons the Law Society ‘did not get along with’.

Law Society of Scotland officials used Police, newspapers in attempt to link their critics to attack on Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming The Law Society of Scotland has of course, declined to explain why its senior officials gave private briefings to newspaper journalists just after the attack on Mr Cumming in late January of 2006, urging the publication of stories which were intended to pin the blame for the assault on Mr Cumming on critics & law reform campaigners who were seeking an end to self regulation of the legal profession (Cash laundering link to law chief stabbing, 29 January 2006, Scotland on Sunday). However, journalists at the time identified those at the Law Society who were involved in the private briefings & telephone calls to newspapers. Strangely, not one Law Society official was identified in the Scotland on Sunday story despite the highly charged accusations levelled against critics & law reform campaigners published in the paper.

A spokesperson for the Law Society of Scotland said of Mr Cumming at the end of the trial : "He was a dedicated and popular member of staff and the attack was a great shock to his former colleagues. Leslie was determined not to let the attack stop him from living life to the full and he has done that in so many ways."

Like his former Boss, Douglas Mill who has a consultancy business, Leslie Cumming now runs his own consultancy business, Leslie Cumming Consultancy Services.

The trial of Robert Graham at the High Court in Edinburgh commenced on 7 November 2011 and last for 9 days. It was prosecuted by the Solicitor General for Scotland, Lesley Thomson QC, who was the Procurator Fiscal in the abandoned Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of a young girl who was massively overdosed with radiation, the Crown Office made the usual claims “lessons will be learned”.

Mr Logue’s claims that those who try to evade justice will be pursued & brought before the courts apparently do not apply to lawyers who swindle millions of pounds from the legal aid budget each year in multiple frauds, as revealed by Diary of Injustice in an earlier report here : FOURTEEN lawyers accused of multi-million pound legal aid fraud escape justice as Scotland’s Crown Office fail to prosecute all cases in 5 years

In a double slap to Mr Logue’s contentions of what happens to those who evade justice, one of the FOURTEEN alleged legal aid fraudster lawyers who escaped prosecution by the Crown Office, was/is married to one of Mr Logue’s own Procurator Fiscal colleagues, reported here : Admissible Evidence ? Crown Office Prosecutor married to lawyer accused of legal aid fraud, both still working, Legal Aid Board ‘convinced of guilt’

Diary of Injustice previous coverage of the attack on Leslie Cumming and the saga of the trial of Mr Graham can be read here : The blame game & who paid for attack on Law Society Chief accountant Leslie Cumming

Conviction of ‘Paid Hitman’ over Leslie Cumming ‘murder bid’ leaves more questions than answers in Law Society’s organised fit-up of critics scandal

Robert Graham was convicted of the attack on former Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming of the Law Society of Scotland. ROBERT GRAHAM (aged 46), an alleged ‘paid hitman’ who stood accused of an attempted ‘murder hit’ which took place in January 2006 at Murrayfield, Edinburgh against Leslie Cumming, the now former Chief Accountant of the Law Society of Scotland, was convicted today at the High Court in Edinburgh after a trial lasting nine days. Mr Graham was found guilty by a majority jury verdict and was remanded in custody to appear for sentencing on 15 December. Mr Graham was extradited back to Scotland from Australia last year to be charged with repeatedly striking Mr Cumming on the head and body with a knife or similar instrument to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life in the attack which took place six years ago.

The High Court heard earlier this week from Graham who denied attempting to murder the Law Society accountant, claiming he did not assault Mr Cumming, rather he intervened in the attack, (allegedly carried out by another party), to stop Mr Cumming getting “a bigger hiding”. During the accused’s testimony, Graham told the court he was born in Ireland as Paul Francis McGhee before emigrating to New Zealand at the age of nine but in Britain he called himself Robert Graham. The court also heard from a witness that Graham had confessed to a colleague that he had "done a judge in" and was paid £10,000 by a guy in a BMW to give him "a good working over".

The witness who told the court of the alleged boast by Graham, scaffolder Nicholas Wells said he started work at Wembley Stadium in January 2006 and Graham joined a few weeks later. In a statement to police, he said: "He told me around this time he had done a judge in in Edinburgh, having jumped out some bushes at him. I can recall him telling me the guy from the BMW paid him £10,000 to do the job and told him to give the guy a good working over." Mr Wells told the court he had been approached by the police at a site he was working on in Edinburgh in 2009. Asked if he had told them the truth, Wells replied: "As I remember it at the time." He added: "I was taking a lot of drugs at the time. I was taking a lot of sleeping tablets ... it is hard to remember it all clearly now."

The court heard that during the assault, Mr Cumming grasped the balaclava worn by the attacker in an attempt to pull it off while further DNA evidence was recovered from the Barbour jacket Mr Cumming was wearing at the time of the attack. Additional DNA material was taken from Mr Cumming before doctors treated his wounds, and the DNA was linked back to Graham in tests.

Forensic scientist Amanda Pirie, 39, told the High Court last Friday it had been a "full" match which was "as good as it gets" and left a one in a billion chance that it belonged to someone else. She added that another match had been made with DNA found on the jacket Mr Cumming was wearing when he was attacked. She said: "In our opinion the scientific findings from examination of the jacket and the left hand swabs are consistent with Robert Graham having assaulted Leslie Cumming as alleged."

At the conclusion of the trial today, John Logue, Area Procurator Fiscal for Lothian & Borders, said: “In 2006 Robert Graham targeted and tried to kill Leslie Cumming because he was paid to do so. Today, almost six years later, he has been found guilty of this vicious and cowardly attack after being extradited from Australia.”

Mr Logue continued : “He was brought to justice by the perseverance and diligence of officers in Lothian and Borders Police who tracked him down, assisted by Interpol and authorities in New Zealand and Australia. I hope that today’s successful prosecution will secure the confidence of the Scottish public that those who try to evade justice will be pursued and brought before the courts.”

Leslie Cumming, former Law Society of Scotland’s Chief Accountant. At the end of the trial, Mr Cumming commented : "The police perseverance and professionalism and the Crown Office input have been vital in securing the result. It's important to me that I got that closure and I just want to thank the members of the team who were involved in this complicated case for their efforts on my behalf. The actual event was horrific and bloody and having to explain to the court in such detail as we could recall at this time was traumatic for my wife and me. I hope now the trial is complete and the result is known that this nightmare has ended for us and we can get back to normal life."

Commenting after the majority verdict convicted Robert Graham of the attack on Mr Cumming, the Solicitor General for Scotland, Lesley Thomson QC, said : "He uses the name Robert Leiper Graham in this country and Paul Francis McGhee in New Zealand. The Crown is not in a position to say he is either of these people at this stage." Ms Thomson also said when Graham left New Zealand in 1999 there was an outstanding warrant out for him and that a notice had been served on him in a move to deport him from Britain.

Detective Chief Inspector Keith Hardie, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: "We welcome today's verdict which sends out a clear message that Lothian and Borders will quite literally pursue people to the other side of the world to bring them to court. He is a devious character, who has lived a lie for most of his adult life, and there were major concerns he would do his best to continue to evade justice."

However, the multi million pound investigation carried out by Lothian & Borders Police and the subsequent conviction of Robert Graham this week leaves more questions than answers over why the attack occurred in 2006, who allegedly paid Graham to carry our the attack and why Law Society of Scotland officials and a media outlet were so keen to pin the blame for the attack on critics & campaigners in a year where the Scottish Parliament had begun a major investigation into the Law Society of Scotland and its notoriously prejudiced closed shop handling of the regulation of crooked lawyers.

Over the years, insiders have claimed the Police have a good idea of exactly who ordered the attack on Mr Cumming, some even linking up the incident to other well reported frauds in Scotland which involved millions of pounds, well known crooked solicitors and a banker. However Lothian & Borders Police have said nothing officially on any of these claims.

The answer to the attack may well lie in Leslie Cumming's role with the Law Society of Scotland, where as its Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Accountant, Mr Cumming was in charge of teams of inspectors who audit the financial accounts of law firms to ensure compliance with the Law Society’s rules (rules to keep accounts, not rules to rip off clients as much as possible and undetected). Mr Cumming was also involved in disciplinary cases, of which there are many, many resulting in no criminal convictions where, for example a solicitor might make off with half a million pounds from a deceased’s client will, and get away with it, and be allowed to carry on working.

It is also noteworthy Mr Cumming in his role as Deputy Chief Executive played number two to the also now former Chief Executive Douglas Mill, who resigned in disgrace after a scandal involving the fiddling of Master Policy insurance claims against crooked lawyers which was exposed by the now Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney during a meeting of the Justice 2 Committee later the same year Cumming was attacked. The video footage of Mr Swinney’s exposure of Douglas Mill & the Law Society’s Master Policy fraudulent insurance fiddle scheme, can be viewed online HERE.

The conviction of Graham for the assault on Mr Cumming also closes the book on the Law Society’s attempt to fit-up critics & campaigners for the 2006 incident, where it was reported, senior Law Society officials had even provided statements to Police urging them to ‘collar’ persons the Law Society ‘did not get along with’.

Law Society of Scotland officials used Police, newspapers in attempt to link their critics to attack on Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming The Law Society of Scotland has of course, declined to explain why its senior officials gave private briefings to newspaper journalists just after the attack on Mr Cumming in late January of 2006, urging the publication of stories which were intended to pin the blame for the assault on Mr Cumming on critics & law reform campaigners who were seeking an end to self regulation of the legal profession (Cash laundering link to law chief stabbing, 29 January 2006, Scotland on Sunday). However, journalists at the time identified those at the Law Society who were involved in the private briefings & telephone calls to newspapers. Strangely, not one Law Society official was identified in the Scotland on Sunday story despite the highly charged accusations levelled against critics & law reform campaigners published in the paper.

A spokesperson for the Law Society of Scotland said of Mr Cumming : "He was a dedicated and popular member of staff and the attack was a great shock to his former colleagues. Leslie was determined not to let the attack stop him from living life to the full and he has done that in so many ways."

Like his former Boss, Douglas Mill who has a consultancy business, Leslie Cumming now runs his own consultancy business, Leslie Cumming Consultancy Services.

The trial of Robert Graham at the High Court in Edinburgh commenced on 7 November 2011 and last for 9 days. It was prosecuted by the Solicitor General for Scotland, Lesley Thomson QC, who was the Procurator Fiscal in the abandoned Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of a young girl who was massively overdosed with radiation, the Crown Office made the usual claims “lessons will be learned”.

Mr Logue’s claims that those who try to evade justice will be pursued & brought before the courts apparently do not apply to lawyers who swindle millions of pounds from the legal aid budget each year in multiple frauds, as revealed by Diary of Injustice in an earlier report here : FOURTEEN lawyers accused of multi-million pound legal aid fraud escape justice as Scotland’s Crown Office fail to prosecute all cases in 5 years

In a double slap to Mr Logue’s contentions of what happens to those who evade justice, one of the FOURTEEN alleged legal aid fraudster lawyers who escaped prosecution by the Crown Office, was/is married to one of Mr Logue’s own Procurator Fiscal colleagues, reported here : Admissible Evidence ? Crown Office Prosecutor married to lawyer accused of legal aid fraud, both still working, Legal Aid Board ‘convinced of guilt’

Another of the fraudsters, who defrauded the Scottish Legal Aid Board of TWO MILLION POUNDS & committed suicide before being charged, was married to a Police Officer in training at Tulliallan Police College, who was, according to Scottish Government sources, due to pass out the same day her husband jumped in front of a train, reported here : Justice Secretary’s discredited defence for Crown Office in 14 legal aid fraud scandals as links between accused lawyers & Scots crime agencies emerge

Leslie Cumming ‘hit’ trial : Accused pleads not guilty to attack used by Law Society Chiefs in media effort to silence critics of crooked lawyers

Leslie Cumming, former Law Society Chief Accountant was attacked in January 2006, Law Society blamed critics, others blamed corrupt lawyers who feared investigation. NEARLY SIX YEARS after a ‘murder hit’ was carried out on Leslie Cumming, the now retired Chief Accountant of the Law Society of Scotland, the trial of the man charged over the attack, Robert Graham (46) who was arrested in Australia late last year and extradited back to Scotland earlier in 2011, began yesterday at the High Court in Edinburgh, with the accused pleading not guilty to the ‘frenzied attack’ on Mr Cumming, lodging a special defence claiming the offence was not committed by him but by a third party, whose name he did not know.

The attack in late January 2006, saw Mr Cumming suffer multiple stab wounds during an attack near his home in Murrayfield, Edinburgh. However, just a few hours after the attack, Mr Cumming’s colleagues at the Law Society of Scotland rushed to contact journalists at certain newspapers, to organise an effort to blame the ‘murder hit’ on critics of the legal profession & campaign groups who called for reform of regulation of lawyers in Scotland. According to one newspaper journalist who covered the story at the time, private off-the-record briefings were given by senior Law Society officials to selected journalists where it was made plain that critics of the Law Society “deserved to be blamed for the attack”.

Law Society of Scotland officials used Police, newspapers in attempt to link their critics to attack on Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming. As it became clear the Law Society was not to have its way in media attempts to finger its key critics for a part in the attack on Mr Cumming, information discussed among journalists in the few days after the incident revealed that senior officials of the Law Society had provided claims & statements to Lothian & Borders Police alleging critics, campaigners and even some ruined clients who had complained to the Law Society were behind what was described as a ‘murder hit’ on Mr Cumming.

A journalist had also reported from Police sources that “Law Society officials were putting pressure on the Police to interrogate & charge certain people over the incident”, (the same certain people the Law Society wanted to discredit before a Justice Committee investigation into regulation got off the ground later that year) although none of the individuals whose names were allegedly handed over to Lothian & Borders Police by the Law Society reported being contacted by the Police at any time during the investigation.

Yesterday during the first day of the trial of Robert Graham at the High Court in Edinburgh, who is being prosecuted by the current Solicitor General, Lesley Thomson, (who may be better known to some as the Procurator Fiscal in the abandoned Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of a patient who was massively overdosed with radiation at the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow ), the court heard from Dr Rachel Miller, the forensic medical examiner who examined Mr Cumming in hospital three days after the attack occurred. Dr Millar told the court : “The pattern and type of injuries were consistent with a sustained, frenzied, vicious attack with a sharp, pointed weapon such as a knife which could have had a serrated edge”.

Dr Miller said she was informed that Mr Cumming fell onto his knees pulling the attacker towards him. The attacker had then walked away. She said Mr Cumming had sustained more than 40 injuries, although some were due to medical treatment and others had been picked up while gardening.

Dr Miller continued, telling the court Mr Cumming had injuries to the face, chest, back, arms and legs and that sutures & staples had been used to close some wounds and a chest drain had been put in. Dr Miller said the pattern and type of injuries sustained by Mr Cumming were "consistent with sustained, frenzied, vicious attack" with a sharp pointed weapon which could have had a serrated edge. At the initial hearing yesterday, the jury were also shown photographs of Mr Cumming's injuries.

Today the High Court heard from Mr Cumming himself, who told the jury he saw a "circle of pale face coming out of the darkness" as he emerged from his car in Ormidale Terrace, a lane behind his home in Murrayfield. Mr Cumming went onto describe the attack, telling jurors he realised a blade or knife was involved. He remembered being struck on the side of his face and then shortly afterwards realising he had blood running down the side of his neck. Further details on today’s hearing before judge John Morris QC is reported in the Daily Record newspaper HERE.

Followers of the story so far on the attack on Leslie Cumming will now be familiar with a report which appeared in the newspaper Scotland on Sunday on 29 January 2006,a report which appeared in the newspaper Scotland on Sunday (Cash laundering link to law chief stabbing, 29 January 2006)) a few days after the incident occurred, where senior Law Society figures attempted to pin the blame for the attack on this blog, critics of the Law Society’s poor regulation of crooked lawyers and campaign groups.

Without naming the Law Society officials who said it, Scotland on Sunday reported in the article : Senior figures in the Law Society have made it known they feel some of the websites criticising lawyers are tantamount to incitement to violence” while sources close to the Police confirmed separately to this reporter the highest officials at the Law Society were urging the Police and even the Scottish Executive of the time to stamp out online criticism of lawyers.

At the time of the incident, Diary of Injustice had existed for around three weeks after its creation in the first few days of 2006 to support the passage of the Legal Profession & Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill through the Scottish Parliament in what was to become a very bitter, at times venomous fight between the vested interests of lawyers and consumer groups campaigning for independent regulation of corrupt Scottish lawyers. Needless to say as the evidence now shows, the vested interests won and what became the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission was compromised by the Law Society before it began its official duties in October 2008.

Turning back to the attack on Mr Cumming, as the years dragged on without a result on the case, and after several appeals by Lothian & Borders Police to catch the attacker, along with a report on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme, a development eventually led to the arrest of Robert Graham in Australia in early November of last year, reported by Diary of Injustice here : Australian Police arrest suspect in connection with 2006 murder bid on Law Society of Scotland Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming.

Police hunt for clues on the attempted murder of Law Society Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming in January 2006 (click image or HERE to view video)

The trial at the High Court in Edinburgh is expected to last all week. Mr Cumming retired from the Law Society of Scotland after the attack and now runs his own consultancy business, Leslie Cumming Consultancy Services.