Mitchell Skilling

An appeal under section 74 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 concerning whether consent could be a defence to the libel of assault in the context of sexual activity has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary after the issue was raised in a preliminary hearing. Sean Kirkup was indic

A Scottish local authority has been granted decree of absolvitor in an action by an asylum seeker who sought to establish that he had been aged under 18 when first accommodated by the authority. Abdraman Ali Ahmat raised an action against Aberdeenshire Council seeking declarator that his date of bir

A Glasgow sheriff has ruled that a housing co-operative could evict a Scottish secure tenant after it discovered that she had allowed drug dealers to use her property to store controlled substances in return for the cancellation of a debt. Drumchapel Housing Co-Operative Ltd raised an action for rem

An appeal by a man to be tried for rape at Glasgow High Court has lost an appeal against the granting of a Crown motion to prohibit questioning on aspects of evidence introduced under a section 275 application as part of a special defence of incrimination. Pa Samba Saye was indicted on four charges,

The Inner House of the Court of Session has ruled that the required nine-month devilling period prior to becoming a fully qualified advocate does not interrupt the continuous 10-year period for which a person requires to be legally qualified in order to become a sheriff in Scotland. The question aro

A commercial judge has dismissed part of a man’s claim against two green energy companies for negligently installing wind turbines in the wrong locations after ruling that he could not claim for losses accrued by business vehicles he had formerly owned in part. Arthur Simmers raised an action

A haulage company has won an Employment Appeal Tribunal challenge against a decision to award £10,000 to a former employee for injury to feelings after a dispute arose over a reorganisation of employment roles at the North Lanarkshire depot where she was employed, and reduced the award to &pou

A man serving a five-year prison sentence who had a further two-year sentence imposed on him after pleading guilty to an additional offence of being involved in organised crime had had his second sentence extended after a Crown appeal against its leniency. Ian Sweeney, who acted as a tracker and &ld

The High Court of Justiciary has refused appeals by two people convicted of the murder of a 14-year-old girl in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment after finding that there was sufficient evidence for convictions on the basis of art and part liability. Andrew Kelly and Donna Brand were convicted

A lord ordinary has ruled that a waste management company is entitled to sue the Scottish government over its decision to delay the coming into effect of the Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland. Biffa Waste Services Ltd, which committed around £51.4 million towards implementation of the DRS, so

A sheriff has concluded that the death of a man who fell from his fishing boat while trying to rescue a crew member could have been prevented if the crew of his vessel had been more familiar with the use of its man overboard recovery equipment. Lachlan Robertson died from the effects of immersion in

A dispute over an incorrectly served Low Emission Zone penalty charge notice that was ruled unenforceable by the First-tier and Upper Tribunals has been remitted to the First-tier Tribunal for reconsideration after a successful appeal by a local authority to the Inner House of the Court of Session.

The High Court of Justiciary has increased the length of an extended sentence imposed on a man who groomed a teenage girl into having sex with him and made indecent communications towards another person he believed to be a young girl, after the Crown appealed against the leniency of the original sen

A 16-year-old who was convicted of culpable homicide after he headbutted and punched an Elgin bus driver who later died from his injuries has lost an appeal against his sentence. NRL was detained for four years and four months, reduced from a headline sentence of six years and six months, after plea

The High Court of Justiciary has answered in the negative two questions relating to whether the Crown had acted unlawfully in the separate prosecution of two teenagers in Dundee Sheriff Court by acting in a manner said to be unlawful under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (I