Lord Carloway, the Lord Justice General, has issued a practice note which is hoped to reduce the backlog of summary cases at the Sheriff Court’s. The practice note provides for early meetings between the defence and the prosecution prior to the trial diet to establish if the matter can be [...]

Aaron Dines, aged 41, was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment following the attempted murder of Martin Nobel in Aberdeenshire in November 2018. Mr Dines was accused of stabbing Mr Nobel. Mr Dines had lodged a special defence of self-defence and was convicted following trial at Edinburgh High Court. The court [...]

Nicola Sturgeon has stated that the Scottish Government is actively considering bringing in legislation to make it illegal for people to travel out with their local authority area depending on the level of restrictions in that area as part of the effort to tackle coronavirus. At present people living in [...]

The Hate Crime and Public Order Bill has come under criticism from the legal profession. The Bill is set to be a consolidation of the current hate crimes and aims at bringing together the various existing hate crime laws into a single Act. The Bill adds crime based on a [...]

A leaked report produced by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has called for the Scottish Government to write off around 210,000 hours of community service. The report has been produced in a background where many individuals have been unable to participate as anticipated in their community service as [...]

Robyn Goldie aged 13 had complained to her mother of feeling unwell between 19th July and 26th July 2018. Her mother, Sharon Goldie, refused to call an ambulance for her and stopped a friend from taking her to hospital stating that Robyn was attention seeking. Sharon Goldie later left Robyn alone at [...]

Following the success of remote jury trials in the High Courts of Edinburgh and Glasgow remote jury trials are set to be rolled out to Glasgow and Edinburgh Sheriff Courts. Six juries will be based remotely in the Odeon cinema at Glasgow Quay for Glasgow Sheriff Court jury trials whilst [...]

Ji Ren Li who raped a 17 year old woman within 6 minutes of their meeting was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment following a 3 day trial at Glasgow High Court. Ji Ren Li was reported to have carried the complainer who was intoxicated and incapable of consenting into a [...]

The Scottish Government is set to invest £6.5 million to extend remote jury centres across Scotland to allow the resumption of Sheriff Court jury trials in December. There has not been a Sheriff Court jury trial in Scotland since March 2020 which has lead to a backlog of cases estimated [...]

Mr Paul Jackson pled guilty to dangerous driving at excessive speed while under the influence of alcohol, driving without insurance, failing to provide a breath specimen and threatening and abusive behaviour. Mr Jackson had mixed prescription pills with alcohol before driving at speeds of 123mph in Bannockburn and hallucinating being [...]