HMA vs Muirhead and McKenzie Day 1 Afternoon

The High Court of Justiciary

After the lunch adjournment Lord Turnbull re-convened the court at 2pm and the Advocate Depute, Tim Niven-Smith called his next witness, Shona Blacklock. Ms Blacklock told the jury that she was a Force support officer for the Scottish police services authority and in this capacity had been called to Saltcoats Royal Mail sorting office on the 4th March 2011 to take photographs of the contents of a suspicious package. Ms Blacklock confirmed that photos shown to the court were the ones she had taken that day and then stepped down from the witness box.


Next to be called was Inspector Brian Ferguson of Strathclyde police. Inspector Ferguson confirmed that he was a "Search advisor" for the force and as such had been trained in "counter-terrorism,  the evaluation of suspicious packages and the recognition of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) The witness told the court he had been called into the Royal Mail office in Salcoats where he was asked to look at a "jiffy style package" that was addressed to Neil Lennon and had nails protruding from it. 

HMA vs Trevor Muirhead and Neil McKenzie Day 1 Morning

The trial of the two men accused of sending improvised explosive devices to Neil Lennon, Trish Goodman, Paul McBride QC and to the offices of  Cairde Na Heireann began in the High Court in Glasgow today.


Separated from the public gallery by glass screens, Trevor Muirhead and Neil McKenzie watched as the presiding Judge Lord Turnbull cautioned the jury of 11 women and three men to ignore any publicity about the case they may have heard and to decide the case purely on the evidence presented to them. As there are no opening statements in Scottish courts the Advocate Depute, Mr Tim Niven Smith, then proceeded to call his first witness, Sheila Webb.


Ms Webb, a "Scene Examiner" for the Scottish Police authority, testified to the accuracy of pictures she had taken of two postal boxes, one in Kilwinning and one in Saltcoats, two towns in Ayrshire. Neither of the defence advocates, Gordon Jackson QC for Mr Muirhead and Donald Findlay QC chose to cross examine and Ms Webb stood down from the stand.


The second witness of the morning was Andrew Brown (27) as postal worker, who on the 4th March 2011 emptied the postal box in Gladstone Rd, Saltcoats. Mr Brown described finding a brown "Jiffy" parcel addressed by hand to "Neil Lennon, Celtic FC, Celtic Park, Glasgow." Mr Brown was then shown a parcel by the Advocate Depute which he confirmed was the one he had collected that day.

Is the Government’s net immigration target counter-productive?

By Georgina Tubb, @GTubbMedia

Statistics released this week showed that the Government has made no progress towards its target of cutting net immigration down to the tens of thousands. 250,000 more people have entered the UK than have left it, which means net immigration has remained at a record high despite the Government’s pledges. As a result of both the target set by ministers, and their failing to meet this so far, pressure has been put on immigration authorities to reduce the number of immigrants entering the country.
However, it would appear that deciding who is allowed to live in the UK isn’t as straightforward as it may seem, and some evidence would suggest that the sort of people who may be beneficial and welcome in our country are not being granted permission to stay.
I saw and heard an example of such evidence with my own eyes and ears this week when sitting in the public gallery of a Crown Court (a very interesting way to spend the day if you’re a Criminology student!).

Open Justice Week is Here.

Tomorrow sees the start of Open Justice week. After the last six weeks of planning and talking to people all over the country about the project Monday will see people fanning out across our justice system and writing about what they experience.

We'd like to wish everyone who has already told us they are taking part all the best, and say to anyone who has no yet taken the plunge to consider writing for us. We already have some great pieces lined up but the more we have the better the snapshot of where the legal system is in 2012 we can create.

Thanks again to those who have pledged to get involved, if anyone needs to know more we can be reached through this blog or by email Here



James and Cristiana.

Open Justice project aims to shed light on Scottish courts that normally go unreported

From Jon Robbins in the Guardian today

Next week marks the start of a potentially fascinating experiment that aims to shine some light on those under-exposed parts of the justice system. Open Justice Week is a Scottish initiative that aims to use blogging, Twitter and Facebook to 'increase the transparency and accountability of the justice system'.

For better and worse, the relentless incursion of social media is a defining feature of modern day life. Its appearance in our courts, and clashes with the law, have become commonplace. The last few weeks have seen the so-called #obscenitytrial (to use its Twitter hashtag) (a failed prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act that gay porn was capable of being 'depraving and corrupting'), and a High Court appeal of the #twitterjoketrial which concerns an accountant who, jokingly, tweeted a threat to blow Robin Hood airport 'sky high' if it remained shut.

Both cases involved tweets of fewer than 140 characters, sent by non-lawyers, that resulted in complex legal argument. The live Twitter commentary of both events varied from insightful to the unenlightening - but near-contemporaneous commentary is a compelling innovation.

Column in The Journal

Check out our column and video interview in The Journal [link], the mag for members of The Law Society of Scotland.

A Beginners Guide to Court Reporting

With the beginning of Open Justice week less that 8 days away, Gordon Darroch has kindly created this excellent guide to  court reporting. It is pretty comprehensive but if there is anything you are unsure of please leave a comment or email us

A beginner’s guide to court reporting

Reporting on a court case is a lot less daunting than it sounds. The silk gowns, leatherbound ledgers and legal language can seem forbidding to outsiders, but courts are public spaces and with a few exceptions, anyone can attend and report on proceedings.

The laws covering court reporting are mostly there to safeguard the accused’s right to a fair trial. Essentially, the law says that what you write must be a fair and accurate summary of what happens in court. If you stick by this basic rule, you are unlikely to go far wrong.