Thursday, November 17, 2011

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

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its good to know the colleagues of our Prosecutors are just as twisted as those being put behind bars today.. oh sorry I forgot stealing millions of pounds of public money isnt an offence if you are either connected to the Crown Office or in the cops!

Anonymous said...

Maybe for his rehabilitation he can get a job with the SLCC and we can expect a complete drop in numbers of crooked lawyers?

Anonymous said...

You didnt leave much out did you Peter.Oh well I saw Reporting Scotland tonight and the Policeman sitting next to Cumming looked & sounded like he was holding a lot back.After six years I think its safe to assume the Police have a good idea who did it and why and how much was paid etc

Oh and if I were you dont bother buying the hootsmon on Sunday again.I dont and feel all the better for it!

Anonymous said...

My money is still on someone within the Law Society setting the whole thing up against Cumming.

They are all rotten and everyone knows it.The sooner the Law Society is shut down as a regulator we will all be safer.

Anonymous said...

How long have they had him in custody and they dont even know what his real name is?

Pathetic!

Anonymous said...

This all sounds very corrupt all these people talking about the case as if its closed.Are they not going to bother looking for who paid Graham to do it?Are they worried they will find lawyers behind it all and there will be more bad headlines for the Law Society?

The whole thing stinks!

Anonymous said...

Well obviously Cumming had no effect at all on bent lawyers because they are still at it according to STV tonight
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/tayside/279327-two-men-charged-over-alleged-500000-fraud/

A retired solicitor and a former policeman have been charged in connection with a £500,000 fraud.

Walter Ruark, 61, and Owen Hughes, 32, are accused of taking part in a fraudulent scheme involving mortgages on flats in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between January 22, 2007 and January 31, 2008 at the offices of Gourley McBain solicitors in Carnoustie, Angus.

Ruark, who lives in Carnoustie, had been a partner of the firm before retiring in 2008.

Both men appeared in private before sheriff Derek Pyle at Arbroath Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

They made no plea and were granted bail.

Anonymous said...

I like the ending about the Fiscal married to a legal aid crook who evaded justice.

Back at you Mr Crown Office PF for allowing this to happen on the lack of admissible evidence excuse!

Anonymous said...

So in essence poor Mr Graham is languishing in jail because the control freaks at the Law Society wanted rid of their critics before the Scottish Parliament did something positive for a change.

For me the newspaper's story of the attack on critics seals the deal on something very fishy going on about this case.Also a majority verdict and not a unanimous so not all believed the Crown line on it all.

I have a feeling we are going to hear more of this case in the future....

Anonymous said...

Majority verdict - I'd have liked to hear from the jurors what went on in there!

Anonymous said...

FYI there has always been a strong suspicion one of the reasons Cumming was attacked revolved around the LSS nipping lpla in the bud before it got off the ground at Holyrood in 2006.
Why do you think you were hit so hard in that news report and by only one newspaper group which.... well I'm sure you and your readers don't need me to tell you the rest.

Anonymous said...

No wonder everyone wants the case closed!Heaven forbid they will ever catch the people who actually paid Graham to do it!

Anonymous said...

How is the fine art of jury stacking in Scotland these days?Getting a verdict to suit by loading up jurors has always been a bit of a fame for prosecutions as we in the trade all know and this is without taking into account rumours of the occasional judge who accepts brown envelopes.

Anonymous said...

The Police will know exactly who it is who paid for the Cumming attack (at least they should know after SIX YEARS)

Also I believe this is the work of more than one crooked lawyer organising it probably one of a gang who does the enforcement bit to keep all their scams secret.

Anonymous said...

You may be interested to learn the Solicitor General Lesley Thomson who prosecuted Graham was at today's admissions ceremony for new lawyers and gave a speech to the new intake of the LSS.Jack has just tweeted it!

Anonymous said...

http://www.lawscot.org.uk/news/press-releases/2011/november/news_17112011_lescumming

Law Society comment on Leslie Cumming, former Deputy Chief Executive

A spokesperson for the Law Society of Scotland said: "Leslie Cumming was the chief accountant and latterly the deputy chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland.

"He joined the staff in 1984 and worked tirelessly to improve the regulation of Scottish solicitors. 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."

Mr Cumming, a qualified Chartered Accountant, retired from the Society in November 2006.

The Society offered a £5,000 reward, matching the amount offered by BBC Crimestoppers, to anyone who provided information leading to an arrest.

MmmmMMmm nice £5K.Was anyone actually paid the reward and if so what was the real figure and was the jury told about it???

How much drugs can someone buy with £5K (or more) these days???

Anonymous said...

Hmm I think you should sue the newspaper and the Law Society for those accusations against you although you will have to find a judge who isnt any of the following :

1.A drunk
2.A crook
3.A paedophile
4.A racist sexist bigot
5.A member of a secret society
6.A tax dodger (I see you wrote about this earlier)
7.An arse kisser to the establishment
8.A wife or child beater
9.One of those who has a double life,ie married with a wife & kids while having a secret rent boy lover(s) on the side.
10.A people hater (most judges I've heard in court seem to qualify for this)

So if you can find a decent judge then you should sue.You might want to try the English courts too given the usual Scottish fit up applying to anyone who dares challenge the legal establishment.

Anonymous said...

Its in the Herald today as well as the SNP hating hootsmob

Anonymous said...

The Herald say the reward money has not been paid although I'm not sure I believe much about the legal system after reading all this stuff because they also said the Lockerbie witnesses were not paid then it turned out they were secretly paid for their testimony

see here in the Herald today http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crime-courts/attack-linked-to-victim-s-crooked-lawyer-inquiries-1.1135550

The society put up a £5000 reward, matching a sum offered by Crimestoppers, to help catch those responsible. However, the £10,000 is still unclaimed, as questions remain over the identity of the person responsible for ordering Robert Graham to carry out the attack.

Last night Detective Chief Inspector Keith Hardie, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: “The motive is something that may be the subject of further police investigation.”

He added it was thought “that from the outset this was related to the work that he had conducted for the Law Society”.

Mr Hardie said it was “most likely somebody that had been disgruntled by the investigations”.

He added: “I’m not suggesting for a second this is going to open up a can of worms ... but it [the new investigation] would be around somebody who set up Graham to carry out this attack.”

Anonymous said...

"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."

Yes very odd.Its like they have something to hide themselves..

Anonymous said...

so catching a hired hitter is easier than catching a hospital for irradiating a patient

Scotland is some country!

Anonymous said...

Well he is Irish, so that immediately puts him in the frame.

Anyone remember the case of the two Irish brothers, builders by trade, who were accused in Court of violently assaulting several police officers - until they produced their own on site CCTV video of the 'incident' which confirmed that the boot had been on the other foot.

There has been a deafening silence re any progress in the prosecution for about 15 months now - I wonder why?

Anonymous said...

Err, do these DNA specialists come from the same department as the finger print 'experts'?

Anonymous said...

While reading this I had to remind myself I was reading a blog and not watching a movie!
Suffice to say Peter the fact the Law Society tried to implicate you in this scandal just a few days after you started your blog is enough of an act in anyone's book to show where the real guilt lies and that is squarely with the Law Society.

For the record I dont think anyone else will be caught for what happened to poor Mr Cumming because whoever it is who was behind Graham is probably too close to the Law Society itself.Anyone with even half a brain will probably share this view.

Keep up the good work Peter!

Anonymous said...

The papers will be happy with a headline but I dont think its so clear cut,for one thing if the guy really is a hitman he must be crap because Cumming walked away from the attack and what with the Law Society wanting to pin it on their own enemies to shut everyone up well lets just say all the bs we've been treated to in court for the past nine days is exactly that.BS.

Anonymous said...

The Society offered a £5,000 reward, matching the amount offered by BBC Crimestoppers, to anyone who provided information leading to an arrest.

A smokescreen but do they need it when those that sit on the bench have a cosy relationship with the Law Society. It is like the Nazi's offering a reward to expose the one who ordered genocide.

Lawyers, Judges, Advocates, Sheriffs, living breathing evil.

Anonymous said...

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.”
=================================
We have no confidence in anything to do with the judiciary. A club of rats who act like gentlemen.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Hmm I think you should sue the newspaper and the Law Society for those accusations against you although you will have to find a judge who isnt any of the following :

1.A drunk
2.A crook
3.A paedophile
4.A racist sexist bigot
5.A member of a secret society
6.A tax dodger (I see you wrote about this earlier)
7.An arse kisser to the establishment
8.A wife or child beater
9.One of those who has a double life,ie married with a wife & kids while having a secret rent boy lover(s) on the side.
10.A people hater (most judges I've heard in court seem to qualify for this)

So if you can find a decent judge then you should sue.You might want to try the English courts too given the usual Scottish fit up applying to anyone who dares challenge the legal establishment.

18 November 2011 14:59

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! HOW TRUE!!!

Anonymous said...

Suffice to say Peter the fact the Law Society tried to implicate you in this scandal just a few days after you started your blog is enough of an act in anyone's book to show where the real guilt lies and that is squarely with the Law Society.
================================
Police collect evidence, Law society chiefs ordering attack, who decides what is admissible evidence? Crown Office, Procurator Fiscal, members of the Law Society. Jesus H Christ it stinks, if anyone believes a ReichsFuhrer at the Law Society is not involved in ordering this attack they must still believe in Santa Clause.

Anonymous said...

Suffice to say Peter the fact the Law Society tried to implicate you in this scandal just a few days after you started your blog is enough of an act in anyone's book to show where the real guilt lies and that is squarely with the Law Society.
================================
Police collect evidence, Law society chiefs ordering attack, who decides what is admissible evidence? Crown Office, Procurator Fiscal, members of the Law Society. Jesus H Christ it stinks, if anyone believes a ReichsFuhrer at the Law Society is not involved in ordering this attack they must still believe in Santa Clause.

Anonymous said...

The Law Society, a true dictatorship.

Anonymous said...

So with all the praise they have given Cumming I'd like to ask how many crooked lawyers did the guy actually convict?

Now I bet the Law Society wont want to answer THIS particular question!

Anonymous said...

14:59

You can include at least one transvestite and a heavily indebted gambler in that top ten list of Scottish judges.
Also many of those categories also apply to solicitors and the advocates where there are some real masters of the double life....

Anonymous said...

5-10 years anyway for attempted murder and he hasnt grassed anyone up yet possibly not likely to do so by the looks of him so that means a lot more than £10K was put into the kitty.I think the cops and the Law Society are doing a lot of lying on this story.Just why is that now?Plenty comments on here seem to think there are other lawyers involved and I agree it looks like it is down to lawyers.

Anonymous said...

One of the legal aid robbers is married to a fiscal and the other who jumped in front of a train married to a cop and both not charged as well as the rest!

and the Crown Office think we are going to believe they pursue everyone to the ends of the earth?Bollocks!

Anonymous said...

@21:15

Some lawyer will get him an early release after all they just cut a pedo's sentence today probably because he knows where the pervs are in the justice system
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-15790605

You know whats funny?Our Scottish tv stations dont report crooked lawyers all that much unless its someone having a go at them like in the Cumming case.What the f* is going on there???!!

Anonymous said...

Odd that evaryone associated with this case is relieved that it is now over. Finished.

What about the architect of the crime?

All they have done is caught the patsy.

Who had the biggest motive to want to threaten (you do not attempt to kill someone by slashing them) Leslie Cumming?

Is it really plausible that it was a Scottish Lawyer who had been disciplined or was being disciplined?

NO CHANCE.

The Law Society of Scotland and their Disciplinary arm the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal is designed in such a way as to be as light touch as possible for Scottish lawyers.

FACT.

It is far more likely then that it was one of two options:

(a) A Scottish lawyer who was found to be breaking the law, who was being threatened by LC whereby, he/ the Law Society of Scotland had a hold over this Scottish lawyer, and could exact 'favours' from them against the threat of disciplinary or police action/jail.

(b) Where Leslie Cumming was taking the view that he should blow the whistle on all of the unlawful practices employed for years by Office Bearers of the Law Society, either out of conscience or with the intention of negotiating a golden handshake retirement deal.

Given the new testimony regarding the BMW vehicle of the criminal architect, it would be interesting for LC to reflect if any of his senior colleagues drove a BMW at that time. A fact I am sure the police would be interested to explore too??

Anonymous said...

Ring any bells?
http://www.heraldscotland.com/claims-shot-nairn-banker-owed-gangsters-pound-50-000-1.862637

Claims shot Nairn banker owed gangsters £50,000

JAMES MORGAN reporter

6 Aug 2007

Police hunting the killer of Alistair Wilson, the Nairn banker shot on his doorstep three years ago, yesterday said they could not comment on reports that he owed gangsters £50,000.

Police hunting the killer of Alistair Wilson, the Nairn banker shot on his doorstep three years ago, yesterday said they could not comment on reports that he owed gangsters £50,000.

It was claimed yesterday that Mr Wilson had borrowed the money from loan-sharks linked to the Glasgow underworld to finance a business venture.

When he was unable to repay it, the 30-year-old father of two was shot dead, according to a Sunday newspaper.

Nearly three years after the murder, which took place on November 28, 2004, detectives have still to establish a motive or a suspect for the crime.

No trace has been found of the money Mr Wilson is said to have borrowed.

Another theory is that he was killed for refusing to launder money through his bank, the Bank of Scotland in Inverness.

Mr Wilson was shot two weeks before he was due to leave the bank to go into business on his own.

Mr Wilson was putting his children to bed at the family home in Crescent Road when a man described as 5ft 4in to 5ft 8in tall, of stocky build and wearing a baseball cap and dark blouson jacket, arrived at the door.

He asked for Alistair Wilson by name when his wife, Veronica, opened the door to him early on the Sunday evening.

Mr Wilson came to the door, and spoke to the man and at one point went back into the house with a blue or green A4 envelope. When he returned, he was shot point blank. Police have not disclosed the the contents of the envelope.

At the height of the inquiry, 60 officers were involved. It has cost more than £2m, although earlier this year it was revealed the team had been scaled down to a handful of officers.

Police went as far as to collect DNA samples from 1000 locals, to compare with saliva from a cigarette butt found close to the murder scene.

At the time, officers said 19 DNA profiles had been isolated on the doorstep and just inside the vestibule of the house where Mr Wilson was shot, but only 18 have been identified.

Two reviews by detectives from Grampian Police of evidence and information gathered by Northern Constabulary failed to identify any possible leads.

A £10,000 Crimestoppers reward for information was withdrawn last December after no informants came forward.

Yesterday, a Northern Constabulary spokesman said they were unable to comment on reports of the £50,000 loan as detectives leading the case were unavailable.

Anonymous said...

Scarey thought : Has anyone considered the possibility the man with the bmw and the money has been reading all this news?
Surely he must be feeling a little insecure!

Anonymous said...

The witness for the prosecution is by his own admission a less than reliable source of information - but enough apparently in this particular instance to prosecute.

Very odd.

Anonymous said...

Well all this should make your job of persuading firms not to litigate in Scotland much easier!I mean who is going to want to come here to do legal business when the criminals get away with chopping up their own regulators?!

Anonymous said...

Well whoever did it there is one thing for sure - no one believes the story the Law Society/cops have put out so far!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Well all this should make your job of persuading firms not to litigate in Scotland much easier!I mean who is going to want to come here to do legal business when the criminals get away with chopping up their own regulators?!

20 November 2011 19:41
-----------------------------------

That is exactly the point....

What business would be attracted to a country who's legal regulators are corrupt and who's legal system is morally bereft and corrupt.

Answer: Only crooks

Straight back atya with a cherry on top!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The witness for the prosecution is by his own admission a less than reliable source of information - but enough apparently in this particular instance to prosecute.

Very odd.

20 November 2011 08:48
-----------------------------------

Yeah! Since when did a self proclaimed junkie become a sataisfactory corroboratory witness?

In a 'normal' case, would the sheriff not draw this anomaly to the attention of the jury when asking them to make their final decision.

Who was the defendant's lawyer?

Jimmy McStiff from the morgue?

The Sheriff, 'I take it by your silence Counsel, you do not wish to cross-examine the crown's cruicial corroboratory witness'? lol

Then again, given the way the Law Society of Scotland operate, maybe they parachuted half-a-dozen Scottish lawyers onto the jury? - to ensure the 'right' result

Anonymous said...

judiciary,police Scotland all crooked BUT only when they need to.....