Pictured: Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi

Lilias Adie died in prison in 1704 before she could be burned for “confessing” to being a witch. Locals buried her under a large stone on the Fife coast, believing it would stop her rising from the dead.

The new Lilias Adie prize will be awarded to the best student in GCU Law’s Miscarriages of Justice module. The class explores the main causes and consequences of wrongful convictions in Scotland, the UK and beyond.

The award is being supported by the founders of The Witches of Scotland Campaign, Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi. Established in 2020, the campaign seeks a legal pardon, an apology, and a memorial for the thousands of women who were convicted of witchcraft and executed between 1563 and 1736.

On International Women’s Day 2022, then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon issued a formal apology, acknowledging the historic injustice suffered by those accused of witchcraft.

Dr Andrew Tickell, head of the department of economics and law at GCU, said: “One of the key demands of the Witches of Scotland campaign is for a national memorial, recognising the injustice of what happened to these women, and remembering them.

“It seems fitting to be establishing a new living memorial here, for GCU students studying miscarriages of justice, recognising what happened to women like Lilias Adie and identifying the resonances with modern wrongful convictions.”

Ms Mitchell said: “We are absolutely delighted to support the new Lilias Adie award at GCU.

“The witchcraft trials were Scotland’s most brutal miscarriage of justice, where thousands of people, mostly women, were executed for a crime they did not commit.

“It is essential that lawyers of the future know that history teaches us that when times are hard, minorities are likely to be targeted and blamed, and to be on guard to challenge laws that breach human rights and cause miscarriages of justice.”