Research from the UK Parliament statistics bureau has shown a significant decrease in prosecutions for cannabis possession over the past decade. According to figures obtained from the House of Commons library, such prosecutions have decreased from 160,733 in 2010 to 110,085 in 2020 – representing a decrease of 32%. The [...]

Scotland has one of the worst rates of overcrowded prisons in Western Europe, according to a new continent-wide survey. The study, carried out by the Council of Europe, showed that Scotland currently has a rate of 104.3 inmates per 100 prison places. This stands high above the European average of 90.3 inmates [...]

Lord Carloway has announced a ‘cautious and incremental easing’ of current criminal court restrictions, starting from 19 th April. Summary cases in the Sheriff Court will restart again, restricted to three trials per day with two backups. He also announced that Justice of the Peace Courts will restart all business from 7 th [...]

Kathleen Ross who worked for an accountancy business who handled the finances for Campbell McWilliams – a communications company – pled guilty to embezzling £253,966 between February 2014 and July 2018 from the company. Ms Ross had stated that she had been pressurised by her now ex-husband into embezzling the [...]

The Court of the Justiciary in Glasgow has refused a joint appeal against the convictions of six men convicted of conspiring to murder, on the basis that the trial judge had failed to investigate allegations of jury bias. The six men were convicted after a lengthy trial in 2019 and [...]

The controversial Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill 2021 has been passed by the Scottish Parliament, despite widespread criticism and fears that it could impact freedom of expression and lead to “frivolous complaints”, according to former MP Jim Sillars. The bill, which expands protections for members of the LGBTQ community, as [...]

Marcus Wishart was convicted of failing to stop and report an accident under the Road Traffic Accident in Kirkaldy Justice of the Peace Court. It was claimed that he had hit another vehicle in a leisure centre car park while trying to park his own vehicle. Mr Wishart did not stop [...]

Ross Platt aged 44, who had 15 previous convictions for violent offences, pled guilty to assaulting a 14 year old girl and was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment in addition to serving the unexpired portion of a previous conviction following his release on licence. It was narrated that Mr Platt [...]

Dean Write had ran over a teenager whilst under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He was found guilty of the murder of Liam Hendry who was 18 at the time on the 29th of September 2019. At trial the court heard how Mr Wright had driven a van at Mr [...]

William Beggs, who is serving a life sentence in HMP Edinburgh, sought to challenge the decision of the prison authorities not progress him through the route to parole by moving him to a lower security prison has had his case refused. William Beggs punishment element of his sentence ended on [...]