Gorgan V HMA 2018

Mr Gordan was jailed for culpable homicide over a ‘mercy killing’ of his terminally wife. However he was admonished following appeal. Mr Gordan was released after the appeal court ruled there was no public interest in putting him in prison after the crime.

His wife was suffering for a long time and had to retire on medical grounds in 2006. However she would not get a formal diagnosis as she was terrified of hospitals, although she believes she was suffering from lung cancer. He stopped working in 2015 to care for his poorly wife who was in chronic pain daily. His four years sentence was quashed and he was admonished. He offered to pled guilty to culpable homicide early on in this case but this was not accepted initially and only accepted on the third day of trial.

Delivering the opinion of the court, Lord Brodie said: “The trial judge determined that in the exercise of his public duty and in the public interest only a custodial sentence was appropriate in the appellant’s case. We do not consider that he was right about that.

The Dean of Faculty invited us to ask ourselves the question: what is the good reason for this man to stay in jail? We see no good reason.” The criminal justice social work report showed Mr Gordan in a very good light and stated that he was at no risk of further harm to anyone. The judges accepted that he knew what he done was criminal but they observed that he was suffering from a “an abnormality of mind”.