Promoting the Scottish Borders in the USA, without telling the whole story ...

Laughably, the Conservative Scottish Borders Councillor & Convener Alisdair Hutton has been reported by BBC News as being in the USA on a chance to "promote the Borders across the Atlantic".

However, Mr Hutton, amongst other things, a former Conservative MEP & now Convener of SBC, won't be telling his audience the other side of the story .. the truth, in other words, which as a long time Borderer myself, I know from my own horrible experience living in the region .. which is that the Borders is run by something akin to a criminal gang .. an administration about as honest as a Drugs Cartel.

Yet, while Mr Hutton will be master of ceremonies at the 50th anniversary dinner held by the American Scottish Foundation in New York later this month at New York University's Club, what he won't be telling his audience is that the Scottish Borders is run by such an incompetent & corrupt administration that when it loses taxpayers .. or even investors funds ... it gets itself off the hook in all manner of devious ways and no one gets compensated. It seems a wonder these days what Conservative Party funds have done for people or those they have been involved with in the past ...

Just look, for instance, how Scottish Borders Council dealt with a $8 million dollar fraud in it's Education Budget ... blaming the whole thing on one man .. but where obviously, as I found out myself which was reported in Scotland on Sunday here Police probe claims of backhanders at council .. that many others were involved but of course .. got off the hook ... Link here : The Budget Chronicles a long & sorry saga here : Police probe £4m council deficit and here : Borders tax plan falters

Scottish Borders Council then dodged a Scottish Parliament investigation into the scandal, where officials from the Council were either retired or put on sick leave so they wouldn't be able to testify at the Parliament or give evidence in other parts of the investigation.

This kind of crooked conduct by the region's administration also extends into other areas, such as Social matters, where a woman was allowed to be abused for years by those who were supposed to be caring for her ... the Council seemingly knowing all about it .. but, doing nothing ... read here ; Miss X report passed to procurator-fiscal .. but the Council seems to have got itself off the hook again in this case, by removing documents from the investigation .. as Christine Grahame MSP claimed in a report here : Vital Miss X file removed, claims MSP and since the Borders social work chief quits .. they could bury the whole thing .. just like all the other scandals the Council seems to get itself into.

Then there was the incompetent way the Council handled the transfer of public housing stock to a firm set up from within the Council itself .. read here : Housing transfer plan in trouble .. which has resulted in a lot of broken promises to the regions tenants.

Yes, Alisdair Hutton won't be telling his audience about all this .. and the many other scandals which have hit the region .. from fraud & embezzlement by officials of Common Good funds & Land to private companies & indivduals .. to deliberate undervaluing of piblicly owned properties, to fiddled expenses claims, to bullying & harrassement & exploitation of workers, to fiddling complaints & investigations in serious crimes, and of course not forgetting members of local government who have been caught up in their own scandals .. which range from everything from charges of kerb crawling for prostitutes in Salamander Street, Edinburgh, to fiddling planning applications .. and there's a lot more .... a LOT more .. from this scandal hit region which never seems to improve. Phew .. and some people think there's corruption in China .. they should just take a look at the Scottish Borders !

I got involved in exposing some of the scandals of Scottish Borders Council ... as, being a resident of the region, I was sickened by the way it was being run ... and you know what ? it hasn't changed a bit.

The same crooked faces are still there in 2006 running their little empires, while the Borders languishes somewhere in the 19th Century ... and the politicians of the Borders - whether they are in Westminster, or the Scottish Parliament .. haven't done much at all for local affairs .. in fact .. mostly, with the odd exception, I would say .. the local politicians are a damn disgrace ... and I often wondered if they only got their positions because they got the sheep & rabbits to vote for them .. of which I think probably outnumber the local human population these days.

Even when people exposed the corruption at the Council, they themselves were targeted in merciless campaigns to hound them out of existence .. something which they did to me after my own local Councillor Wight revealed to me in a meeting there were backhanders flying all over the place in the education budget scaldal ... all of which was reported in the earlier Scotland on Sunday article I quoted.

Now .. don't get me wrong about the Scottish Borders ... I think the region is a lovely place .. in terms of countryside .. and there are some lovely towns too such as Kelso, Hawick, Selkirk ..but without a doubt .. local government in the region has turned out to be worse than the Russian Mafia. There are also plenty good people in the Borders .. but they don't run the region ... that is left to those who think they are a cut above everyone else .. but they aren't .. they are a few cuts below everyone else .. especially when it comes to honesty or transparency.

If something goes wrong with a public service, or a mistake is made by an official .. it seems the entire infrastructure of the region is brought into play to make sure there is a cover up.

For instance, in the Education Budget fraud scandal .. those officials who were 'retired' or put out on sick leave, with excuses they could never work again .. went on to even higher positions in private companies with higher salaries .. after the investigations into the frauds had concluded ... but they couldn't have escaped questioning on the affair if it hadn't been for those in charge of the region who 'put them out to grass'.

The "Miss X" rape scandal where Scottish Borders Social Work Department knew for years what was happening but did nothing .. and even worse, removed evidence & staff from the investigation .. again, another example of what goes on in the Borders when there is a need to cover up .. and it happend of course, to me in my case against the crooked lawyers, and particularly when my mother died at the local hospital.

I remember, for instance, when my mother died at the Borders General Hospital, through medical negligence, how everyone clammed up to lie about what happened in my mums death, and even how the Procurator Fiscal who was involved in the investigation, used the Police to try and protect the guilty from a proper investigation after I had to do a brain scan on my own mum in the Hospital there were people actively encouraged to write letters praising the Hospital for it's case - but the letters were fake. The Doctors who were involved protected each other .. and I went through a meeting with the then Administrator of the BGH John Glennie (now Chief Executive of NHS Borders) and Dr Gaddie . the then Medical Services Director .. who simply lied & dodged the questions I put to them in a meeting, which I was accompanied by two shocked members of the local Health Complaints Advocate system.

The crooked accountant Norman Howitt of Welch Accountants Hawick & Galashiels who ripped off my my family and stole my mothers pension & bank books, trying to set up secret trusts to keep the money for his own control ended up as a Board Member of the Borders College, was promoted to being a senior partner at his accountancy firm, has a position at Scottish Building ..is a Board member of Eildon Housing weasled his way into all other walks of life .. along with the crooked lawyer Andrew Penman of Stormonth Darling Solicitors and Estate Agents, Kelso.... both rewarded highly by the region .. for being .. crooks .. and that is how it works in the Scottish Borders .. so it's not a very safe region to be investing in, as long as there is this culture of crookery.

Visitors to the Scottish Borders, and those who haven't lived there, or have experience ot the place, have the perception it is a quaint region .. lovely countryside, easy living, everything .. hunky-dory ... but as you can see, it is certainly very far from that.

"Something from the past" ... well, that's good for the tourists .. and the Councillors, flotsome poor quality politicians who would never get in anywhere else, a few crooked construction company owners, and not forgetting of course the regions crooked lawyers & accountancy firms & others who like to keep the Borders that way, so they can have their little fiefdoms ... but it's very bad for the locals .. bad for jobs, bad for investment, bad for just about everything else .. and is an almost perfect recipe for corruption, as scandal after scandal has demonstrated. I for one, would be very cautious about investing in the Scottish Borders with this lot in charge .. but maybe if we had a case of "regime change" .. and I think the Borders is certainly in need of that more than some countries in the Middle East ... we might see a region which thrives, rather than one which lives in the past ... and one which you can see, is run by a bunch of crooks & incompetents.

I will be writing more about my experiences in the Scottish Borders later this week and how one of Alisdair Hutton's Conservative colleagues, Councillor Mr Hugh Wight, (Jedburgh & District West) lied in meetings with myself & local Jedburgh Community Council members concerning a threatening & violent neighbour,& helped drive me out of my own home .. in what became a well organised, vindictive & malicious campaign against me by those who wanted me out.

What did I learn from all this ? exposing corruption comes at a price !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/6036737.stm

Councillor builds US connections

A leading councillor from the Borders will head a prestigious event designed to bolster Scots-American relations.

Scottish Borders Council's convener, Alasdair Hutton, will be master of ceremonies at a meeting of the American Scottish Foundation in New York.

The 50th anniversary dinner is to be held later this month at New York University's Club.

The society will present its Wallace Award to Euan Baird, former chairman of oil service giant Schlumberger Ltd.

Mr Hutton said: "This is a great honour and a chance to promote the Borders across the Atlantic.

"This gathering will bring together many people with Scottish roots and I look forward to giving them an up-to-date picture of the Borders as the ideal place to invest in and visit."

Mr Hutton has been writer and presenter with the Edinburgh Military Tattoo since 1992.

Scottish legal profession supports using family law cases to blackmail Executive for more legal aid fees & less reform.

Like North Korean dictators who are currently polluting our planet with nuclear tests, to make political ends for their benefit, the Scottish legal profession has decided to support it's own political campaign against reform of the legal profession, by the use of withdrawing representation for abuse victims & other types of family law cases, in the long running dispute over Civil legal aid feels with the Scottish Executive.

It's no accident that solicitors are now resorting to stronger tactics in their quest to gain more legal aid fees .. with the LPLA Bill currently being considered in the Scottish Parliament, anything which the legal profession can do to 'gum up the works' has been passed by the Law Society of Scotland as 'fair use' against the planned reforms of the way lawyers conduct business in Scotland.

What with the recent resignation of the Lord Advocate over 'unspecified matters', howls from many members of the legal profession, including retired judges, embittered over the loss of self regulation of complaints against their own members, we now see the true face of Scotland's hallowed legal fraternity ... who will stop at nothing to get their own way .. and there is more to come.

Not a very honourable thing for Scotlands legal profession to be doing .. and I haven't noticed retired judges such as Lord McCluskey & otbers in the judiciary, legal profession, or many msps coming out on this one to protest the Human Rights of the public to be defended in court, versus the thing they are so big on lately, being the howls of Human Rights abuse against the solicitors who face losing the power to regulate complaints against themselves. Surely the rights of abuse victims to be protected from violent attackers outweights the rights of lawyers to fiddle complaints against their colleagues ? One would surely think so ...

Of course .. pay someone what they want .. or allow them to set their own pay scales .. and you get a situation like this which we are now in ... and with lawyers over the years being used to milking the legal aid system for whatever they wanted (as long as it didn't include cases against other lawyers) ... they have gotten used to getting the levels of fees they asked for .. so in part, it is certainly the Executive's fault (and previous Governments of course) for allowing this situation to develop in the first place.

Civil legal aid rates are lower than Criminal legal aid rates, and Civil legal aid is more difficult to obtain than Criminal legal aid - because, barring the odd strike by lawyers using victims as a blackmail to obtain more legal aid, it is of course, a right for someone to be defended at a criminal trial - and if they have no defence or representation, either as a result of not being able to obtain a lawyer themselves, or having their legal aid withdrawn, occasionally, Sheriffs have dismissed criminal cases against accused on these grounds.

Civil legal aid applications can be opposed by the defender of the action - this alone, makes it obviously more difficult to persuade the Scottish Legal Aid Board that Civil legal aid should be granted in a case.

Many abuse victims have, at one point or anther, have also had to use a particular rule for claiming Civil legal aid, known as "Regulation 18" where a solicitor can apply for legal aid funding, on the basis they had to take urgent steps to bring a case into court for a client .. This rule has had to be used where there have been difficulties in obtaining Civil legal aid for such cases, in the past, however, sometimes SLAB have also been known to refuse 'Regulation 18" legal aid applications, dependent on the nature of the claimant's case.

A Solicitor can backdate a claim for legal aid using the "regulation 18" rule for emergency legal aid, and you can find out more about 'regulation 18" legal aid and how a case qualifies for it, Here

However, there are great dispartities in the way Civil legal aid is awarded by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, as anyone who has tried to make a claim for Civil legal aid knows .. and there is an even greater disparity in the way the legal profession treats particular types of civil law cases, particularly those which involve civil litigation against colleagues.

For instance, try making an application to the Scottish Legal Aid Board for Civil legal aid in a case against a crooked or negligent solicitor, and you would find, like many before you, it's almost impossible to obtain legal aid .

A claimant in a case against a lawyer, would be faced with all matter of representations coming in from the Law Society of Scotland & the rest of the legal profession to SLAB, to interdict a claimant's application for Civil legal aid. A good example, of this, is my own claim for Civil legal aid, which was obstructed by the Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland, Douglas Mill .. but this is typical of the Law Society of Scotland, who make sure most civil legal aid cases against lawyers get killed off, or are obstructed to the point they never make it to court.

For example, an applicant for civil legal aid (who may also be in receipt of state benefits), in a civil law case against a lawyer might find that the lawyer they are trying to bring to court, has supplied the Legal Aid Board with deliberately false or erroneous information against their person. This has happened many times.

Solicitors up and down Scotland, when faced with a case against themselves, have went all out to 'get' members of the public who have tried to claim against a crooked lawyer who has ruined their finances .. and such dirty tricks as providing false information to SLAB, false information to the Benefits Agency, and even false information to the Inland Revenue & the Police, is quite a common practice - and nothing is ever done about this by the Law Society of Scotland, or even, the Crown Office, who know full well what is happening.

If a claimant makes a knowingly false statement to the Legal Aid Board regarding their claim for legal aid - it;s a criminal offence - and the claimant can be prosecuted in such a case.

If a lawyer makes a knowingly false statement to the Legal Aid Board regarding a claim for legal aid in a court case against a lawyer - nothing is done ..

If a member of the public wishing to claim state benefits gives false informatino to the Benefits Agency .. they get prosecuted ..

If a lawyer or a professional colleague, such as, an accountant, provides false information to the Benefits Agency against a member of the public who is trying to take that lawyer or accountant to court .. nothing gets done but the information remains on file, and is almost impossible for that member of the public to challenge.

I wonder if we may have a few words from the new Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini ?

I would hope the Lord Advocate should have a role & somethjing to say for the public's point of view in this legal aid battle .. where undoubtably, the interests of the public far outweigh the financial interests of the legal profession to rack up legal aid fees.

However, nothing seems to stop lawyers using the most vulnerable people in society for their own financial ends, as we see today in the Scotsman newspaper, who report on more strike threats by the legal profession if their demands for increased legal aid payments aren't met by the Scottish Executive.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1492002006

Strike threat may see abuse victims go to court without lawyer
TANYA THOMPSON SOCIAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

SCOTTISH lawyers are threatening to strike over legal aid payments in a move that could force victims of domestic violence to represent themselves in court.

Family lawyers are furious about the recent introduction of fixed fees for civil legal aid, which replaced itemised payments and an hourly rate for court work.

The Scotsman has learned that a number of family lawyers have called for strike action in the hope of forcing the Scottish Executive to change its policy.

Rachael Kelsey, chairwoman of the Family Law Association, said: "There is a strong feeling among family lawyers that this is coming to a crisis. Some members have said we will have to strike.

"We simply can't afford to do this kind of work anymore; my hairdresser charges more for hourly work than I get paid for legal aid work."

Many lawyers are refusing to represent families in divorce, child custody and domestic abuse cases in an escalating dispute over legal aid.

Next month, the association's 300 members will meet to discuss the option of an all-out boycott of legal aid work, introducing strike action for the first time in its 20-year history.

"We will hold a meeting to canvass views on the prospect of a strike. It would mean a ban on all legal aid work," said Ms Kelsey. "If you have someone who is suffering domestic violence, they would have to represent themselves in court against their alleged abuser.

"I'm currently representing a ten-year-old girl in a particularly difficult case. A strike would mean I would not be able to represent her. It would be heart-breaking to pull out of that case ... but if the association voted for a strike, I would not be a strike-breaker."

Lawyers warned yesterday that a range of sensitive court work would be placed in jeopardy and the most vulnerable clients, including children, would be let down.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Women's Aid said it was appalling that women should be forced to represent themselves in court. "The courts are not places for lay people," she said. "Family law is very complex and needs to be handled sensitively.

"These women won't know the law and to represent themselves could be hugely detrimental to their case."

In recent weeks, the Family Law Association has received more than 100 letters from members concerned about the rates of pay for legal aid work.

Family lawyers have cut the amount of publicly-funded family work they are prepared to carry out as they believe current legal aid payments are so poor.

Helen Hughes, a family lawyer in Paisley, said: "The fees we're paid simply do not reflect the amount of work done.

"In some cases, we're getting about £30 an hour for drawing up writs, appearing in court and speaking to very vulnerable clients. You're running at a loss when you take into account the rent and staff salaries."

A Scottish Executive spokesman said it was currently in negotiation with lawyers over possible changes to the fees for civil legal aid.

Scotland gets a new Lord Advocate - will anything change ?

Last week saw the pantomime of Colin Boyd's resignation from the post of Lord Advocate take up headlines in the press, provoked by some of the members of Scotland's legal profession who were busy whispering words in the ears of many that Scottish law was falling to bits .. because of the planned reforms put forward by the Scottish Executive .. one of those, unsurprisingly, being the Legal Profession & Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill.

So, was Boyd's departure the self-motivated resignation he claimed it to be ? or more of a well planned and cafefully orchestrated protest at reforms to the legal system, which the Law Society, Judiciary & Faculty of Advocates, all want to kill off ?

I believe it was the latter .. and it certainly gave those at the Law Society & Judiciary a 'well timed' chance to jump up & down in a frenzy claiming they were needed to keep the legal system on an even keel ... which they haven't been doing for the past 50 years ...

We were even treated to critisisms of the appointment of Elish Angiolini as the new Lord Advocate .. before the appointment had even been made .. with lawyers & even retired members of the judiciary running around at all hours of the day briefing journalists on the woes of not appointing a trusty member of the Faculty of Advocates to the position ... to follow in the vein of Colin Boyd QC & his predecessors. Even worse for some, was the fact the new appointment was to be a woman .. which allegedly drew scathing private remarks from some who should know better - who should even practice what they preach ...

In any case, now the fuss has died down, Ms Angiolini has spoken of her priorities ...the usual things we can expect .. but will she also look at the running of the Crown Office ?

For years, the Crown Office, full of lawyers itself of course, has turned a blind eye to corruption in the legal profession ... putting off the public's pleads for criminal inquiries into crooked lawyers as a 'civil matter' ... and it has been extremely noticable over the years, that even those lawyers who have been convicted of criminal offences in trials .. have gotten off lightly compared with say, someone who wasn't a lawyer .. or fellow professional. Indeed, some of the Crown Office's own Procurator Fiscals ... lawyers themselves, have got off lightly in criminal cases against them when it has come to sexual offences, corruption .. and a lot more, and the Fiscals Service has a regulatory & complaints procedure which is just as corrupt as the Law Society of Scotland.

For those of us who have ever tried to get the Crown Office to investigate a complaint against a crooked lawyer .. the battle has often been an uphill one, with the inevitable result the Crown Office turns on the member of the public making the complaint .. and either sets the Police on them in an attempt to shut them up .. or has let the Law Society of Scotland know some things, on the side .. in an effort to discredit the complainant & save their fellow lawyer ... not a very pretty picture at all .. the Police & prosecution service being used to defend crooked lawyers against their comeupence, is it ?

I often wondered, for instance, why crooked lawyer Andrew Penman of Stormonth Darling Solicitors and Estate Agents, Kelso didn't get arrested & prosecuted for fiddling & deceiving the Inland Revenue & conducting a fraudulent deception of a Bank .. after all, it was all in the Law Society of Scotland report on what he did .. and just how crooked he was .. but .. no criminal prosecution, of someone who has obviously been engaged in criminal acts (and in how many other undiscovered cases ?) ..

Also, looking deeper into the actions of crooked Borders Accountant Norman Howitt of the equally crooked Borders firm of Welch & Co Accountants, Hawick & Galashiels , who also robbed & looted my family with the backing of their colleagues at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

I wonder why Norman Howitt wasn't prosecutied in a criminal case for also deceiving the Inland Revenue .. a Bank .. and also even using the local Police to try and cover up the fact he had sold my late father's car to a close friend & business associate ? .. why no prosecution there then ? of two obvious crooks who should be behind bars ... and certainly not still working as a lawyer and an accountant ...The Lord Adocate knew all about it at the time, and so did Boyd .. but did nothing. Last time I looked, it was a crime to defraud or lie to the Inland Revenue .. or gain from a deception of a financial institution .. and well .. using the Police to cover up a crime itself, by providing false information ... well .. that would certainly be a crime too, wouldn't it ?

The truth though, is much worse of course .. as there are many like me in Scotland who tried to get the Crown Office to investigate crooked lawyers & their partners in crime ... but not one letter to successive Lord Advocates over all these years, by a wronged client of one of Scotland's glorious legal professionals has resulted in a successful prosecution & jail term. I wonder why ? Was it that successive Lord Advocates were happy with this ? .. that doesn't say much for law & order then .. after all, a crime is a crime, no matter who it's committed by.

Will the new Lord Advocate change the policy of letting the white collar crooks off the hook .. just because they are members of the legal profession, or some other hallowed bastian of corruption which runs Scotland tehse days ?

I hope so, rather than just concentrating on the easier to get criminals in society to satisfy political spin & statistics used by the Executive to spin a yarn the prosecution service is doing it's job .. which it clearly isn't .. but the truth is, it's up to us, the victims & the public, to campaign .

To test the new Lord Advocate's resolve, a man from Dumfrieshire has lodged a complaint against Colin Boyd, in a matter which has seen allegations of evidence tampering by the Crown Office, alteration of writs in the Court of Session .. and even a recent favourable decision by the Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, in favour of the complainant who had apparently been wilfully obstructed by his local Police force in FOI disclosure requests, which you can read about here ; Here

In the light of the Information Commissioner's decision for Mr James Duff in his case, I would actively encourage anyone who has made a complaint against a member of the legal profession, which has resulted in the use of the Police to threaten or harrass them .. to make a similar FOI request to their Police Force as Mr Duff did ... and publish the results for all to see. I wonder how Ms Angiolini will handle these cases .. and the many more to come ?

Wouldn't it just be as well to put their hands up and admit the corruption & cover up.. just as in the McKie case, and make some substantive attempt to clear Scots Law ? rather than maintian it in it's crooked state it has existed in for years ?

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1485022006

Getting tough on petty crime
MICHAEL HOWIE HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

SCOTLAND'S new Lord Advocate yesterday promised to put tackling anti-social behaviour at the centre of the criminal justice system.

Elish Angiolini said people who commit acts such as urinating in the street and vandalism will be hit with new fines within days of the crime - while courts will be freed up to deal swiftly with offenders responsible for "one-man crime waves".

In her first interview since she was chosen on Thursday to replace Lord Boyd, QC, as Scotland's top prosecutor, Ms Angiolini told The Scotsman she would bring prosecutors closer to people living in communities blighted by anti-social behaviour who, she acknowledged, have lost confidence in the criminal justice system.

She said: "You cannot devise what is in the public interest in the cosy cocoon of an office. You need to be out there, need to be exposed to the communities who are actually suffering.

"There is nothing more instrumental for a prosecutor - who may consider murder as the most serious case which requires very close consideration and urinating up someone's close as at the minor end - to actually go into that close and see what it's like, to live with the smells, with the fact when you have kept a nice garden box someone is using it to dump empty cans.

"That type of anti-social behaviour and quality-of-life crime is what really corrodes the confidence of many communities and makes life utterly unbearable.

"What we need to do now is have a summary justice that is problem-solving in its approach. That has already started with youth courts, domestic courts, drugs courts, but we need to look at how we can make the community feel the current criminal justice system is there to serve them and is responsive to them.

"While the criminal justice system must be independent, that does not mean it has to be isolated. Independence which requires isolation is a very immature view of independence."

Her commitment to tackling anti-social behaviour will be welcomed by Jack McConnell, the First Minister, and Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, who have come under fire for failing to meet targets to reduce the number of persistent young offenders.

In 2005-6, the number of persistent young offenders recorded was 1,338 - up 10 per cent on the previous year's figure of 1,260 and 16 per cent higher than the 1,201 in 2003-4.

Ministers have repeatedly accused councils of not imposing enough anti-social behaviour orders on serious troublemakers. Since 2004, six dispersal orders, banning groups from gathering in certain areas, have been issued and last year 169 ASBOs were applied.

Ms Angiolini, who has still to be formally sworn in as Lord Advocate, said major reforms to speed up justice would free the hand of prosecutors to target persistent offenders causing the bulk of anti-social behaviour.

Under the new Criminal Proceedings Bill, the maximum fine fiscals can impose on offenders will be raised from £100 to £500. New compensation orders will also be introduced, allowing fiscals to require a minor offender to pay compensation of up to £5,000 to their victim without the case coming to court.

These measures, she said, will "allow prosecutors to be much more creative" and allow for the "court's energies to be targeted on the persistent offender, the one-man crime wave, or one-woman crime wave, who we know have disproportionate effect on the local community".

The fines would also enable those who "take a tentative step into criminality" to face justice more quickly.

"It is something of a legal cliche that justice delayed is justice denied. The importance not just for victims but also for accused of bringing the disposal of the case close to the actual event brings home to them the fact this is serious and emphasises the need for change.

"If you have that disposal 18 months down the line, it does not allow accused to reflect more closely. If you have a fiscal fine, ensuring that is imposed within days or weeks of the event where someone pleads guilty, that becomes much more possible."

She said changes to the management of High Court cases, which have slashed delays and led to a 70 per cent fall in the number of witnesses called to court, would be extended to the sheriff courts, with trials in absence being permitted in summary cases if the accused fails to appear and the court considers it in the interests of justice.

Other changes include giving fiscals the power to apply to the court to "roll up" all outstanding fines against an individual into one single case, even if the charges are from different sheriffdoms - ensuring better use of court time and resources.

"The new reforms will really shake up summary justice in such a way as to remove the delays and the artificial situation which persists where the accused pleads not guilty at the first, second and third trial diet, before pleading guilty at the fourth diet 14 months down the line," she said.

The impact of such abuse of the system, she said, was "totally unacceptable".

But Margaret Mitchell, the justice spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, last night voiced concern about giving prosecutors more power to dispense justice.

"It is very rare that £500 fines are given out in the district court, and they can sometimes deal with some bad assaults," she said. "I wouldn't want the message going out to the victims that these crimes are being pushed aside. It's important to many of them that the criminal is brought to court."

Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish National Party's justice spokesman, welcomed Ms Angiolini's pledge to target anti-social behaviour. "I think she is quite right," he said, adding that we need to inculcate "a culture of responsibility. People have to recognise they have responsibilities as well as rights.

"Summary justice has to live up to its name. We have to ensure basic legal rights are protected, but also that crimes are dealt with speedily and efficiently.

"The system has to work much faster and with less complexity than it does."

Scottish Sheriffs fear revelations of their past may come back to haunt them ..

Scottish Sheriffs certainly do fear for revelations of their past .. so much so that their Association intervened in the Justice 1 Committee "Regulation of the Legal Profession" inquiry back in 2001 and demanded .. or perhaps .. required .. that the Justice 1 Committee withdraw from any inquiries into Sheriffs .. and you can read Sheriff Lockhart's intimidating letter to the Justice 1 Committee informing the Parliament they might be taken to Court on ECHR grounds if they tried to investigate Sheriffs ..

How's that for fearing transparency ? I'd say ... quite good evidence ... Threaten a Parliamentary Inquiry with Court if they investigate Sheriffs ... quite good evidence of a cover up, by using the threat of Court Action .. which would be judged by one of their colleagues .. no doubt in their favour ...

In Scotland,a Sheriff is a Judge, who is usually assigned to work in a particular local Sheriff Court or who travels around the Sheriff Courts system anywhere in Scotland when they are needed, as a 'floating Sheriff'.

There are now 142 full-time Sheriffs in the various Courts and a number of part-time Sheriffs, all being appointed by a Judicial Appointments Board which is further from transparency than the rules of the Scottish Parliament (a fiddler's charter, one could say).

Sheriff Courts deal with legal cases & procedures which include things like
(1) Solemn and Summary Criminal cases
(2) Large and Small estates upon a death
(3) Fine payments
(4) Civil actions under Ordinary, Summary Cause and Small Claim Procedures
(5) Adoption Cases
(6) Bankruptcy Actions

What & who, are Scottish Sheriffs ?

Well, Scottish Sheriffs are lawyers .. well, former lawyers, and Advocates (fancy name for a lawyer who practices in the Higher Courts of Scotland) .. and so on. So, we shouldn't have any trouble then with them, should we ? Sheriffs, being former lawyers ? .. that should be ok, right ? Not at all ... as events have revealed.

Since Sheriffs come from Scotland's near 10,000 lawyers ... who have about 5000+ complaints made against them each year ... we certainly do need to be concerned about their background ... especially the bits which the Judicial Appointments Board conveniently pass over .. in other words, their regulatory history as a lawyer or advocate .. and in this, lies a problem .. a BIG problem.

A friend of mine, a journalist, has been trying to uncover the history of certain Scottish Sheriffs, and has uncovered some sinister details of the history of certain Sheriffs from when they were lawyers. Nothing of course, which doesn't surprise me ... stuff like, embezzling funds from clients, ruining deceased clients estates & plundering clients wills, overcharging clients for work, intentionally mis-selling clients properties for reduced sums to preferrential clients & personal friends, even, allegations of picking up under age rent boys for sexual adventures ....

How come we never see anything of the complaints histories then, of a lawyer or advocate, who then goes on to be a Sheriff ?

Well, we don't see anything like that, because the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, the Sheriffs Association, and the Judicial Appointments Board .. don't want us to see it .. because if we did .. there would have to be a few resignations from the Bench.

Isn't it about time that some people started asking to see the regulatory histories of these lawyers who are appointed Sheriffs ?

Well, surprise .. that information - their history as a lawyer, how many complaints they had made against them .. etc .. appears not to be subject to FOI Law .. (Freedom Of Information) .. and that is because, the Law Society of Scotland - who collect regulatory data .. even when they don't want to admit it .. got itself an exemption from the FOI Act ... so .. basically, they can do whatever they want .. and if a crooked lawyer refuses to disclose their regulatory history to the public or the Judicial Appointments Board - then we will never know anything about it.

It goes much deaper than that though ... Sheriffs are still lawyers, even though they are Sheriffs ... still lawyers, licensed to practice law .. and they still pay into the sinister, corrupt Master Insurance Policy run by the Law Society of Scotland & Marsh UK ... and that in itself is an interesting point .. as there are a few Sheriffs now on the Bench in Scotland who were subject to long protracted negligence claims by clients .. but the Law Society of Scotland wiped their records of crooked offences clean .. and hid the dirt so they could go on to become Sheriffs.

So, we have situations where, Sheriffs, who have been caught stealing clients money .. stealing their possessions ... embezzling what they could, as a lawyer ... are now sitting in judgement on other fraudsters .. who of course, can't get away with it so easy .. because of course ... the people up before them .. don't serve the law .. or do they ?

What would happen, for instance, if a crooked lawyer who had embezzled their clients funds, stolen assets, looted wills, possessions, ruined clients lives, fitted up complaints so they got off the hook, etc .. came up before a Sheriff .. who had done the same when they were a lawyer ?

Well, guess what ? It's happened .. and the Sheriff certainly didn't dismiss himself from the case .. because of course, he hadn't told anyone he had been a crooked lawyer in the past .. so he didn't really need to.

Now .. if this were America .. probably, the lawyer representing the client who had a negligence claim against the crooked lawyer, would point out that the Judge ... had been a crooked lawyer too in his past .. but no .. that doesn't work in Scotland .. because the Sheriff is also, still, a member of the Law Society of Scotland ... so lawyers never reveal things like that agains their colleagues .. do they ...certainly not to aid their client against a fellow colleague ...

I found it interesting that a Sunday Newspaper recently ran a story about a lawyer who was subject to some 12 negligence claims. TOP LAWYER AT THE CENTRE OF 12 NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS .. well, there are some who are currently sitting on the Sheriffs Bench .. which the Scottish Executive know all about ... who were also embroiled in negligence claims from clients

Of course, the Scottish Executive, the Judiciary, and the Law Society of Scotland, would prefer this information never got out, and would certainly prefer the public not to ask such questions of their Sheriffs .. even to the point of threatening a newspaper and a journalist's career (or more than his career) .. if word got out .. but I think it's time, people started asking for more of the background of these Sheriffs ... because they are certainly NOT what they seem to be ... as some of us well know. Be nice to see the story eventually break though ...

Here's a little unrelated article from last weeks Scotsman on the rising number of Sheriffs ...

Now go and ask some questions everyone on the appointment of Sheriffs... and just what they have been up to in their past

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1447502006

Number of Scottish sheriffs reaches record levels

NINE appointments have taken the total of Scotland's sheriffs to a record 142, it was announced yesterday.

The appointment of the seven men and two women was approved by the Queen after they were nominated by Jack McConnell, the First Minister.

He did so on the basis of a report to him by the independent judicial appointments board that was set up in 2001.

The appointment of a part-time sheriff was also announced and Mr McConnell said he has asked the board to recommend more part-timers.

The nine sheriffs will serve in some of Scotland's 49 sheriff courts. Some of the newcomers will serve in specific areas where help is most needed.

Mr McConnell said: "These appointments will bring the complement of sheriffs up to a record level of 142. I am sure that they will make an early impact in reducing delays in criminal trials and civil cases being heard."

The new sheriffs are Ruth Anderson QC, 59; solicitor Maxwell Hendry, 50; Martin Jones QC, 50; solicitor Desmond Leslie, 51; solicitor Elizabeth McFarlane, 45; solicitor advocate Alan Mackenzie, 50; Charles Macnair QC, 51; solicitor Thomas Millar, 52, and advocate Nigel Ross, 43.