A schoolteacher who entered in a relationship with a 15-year-old female student has had her headline sentence reduced by six months.  In December 2016 the appellant was approached by the complainer who had become upset in a class. The appellant offered to respond to emails sent to her school email [...]

Gordon Campbell was convicted at trial of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement. He appealed his conviction on the basis that at trial the sheriff had misdirected the jury.  The misdirection was in relation to the response to an accusation made by the complainer on the night in question [...]

The respondent was acquitted of a section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. At trial judge accepted a no case to answer submission on the third day of the trial.  Evidence was heard from the complainer, a barman at Shotz Pool and Snooker Club where the complainer and [...]

The appellant was charged with having a knife in a public place without a reasonable excuse or lawful authority. The conviction was appealed on the basis that the sheriff had erred in determining that the statutory defence of reasonable excuse was not provided. The appellant had a history of mental [...]

Lukasz Czapla has received a life sentence after being found unanimously guilty of murdering his two-year-old son Julias in Muirhouse, Edinburgh. Czapla told the High Court that he had shot his son in the head with an air gun before stabbing him with a skewer like instrument and smothering him [...]

Gang member, Christopher Hughes, has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 25 years for his involvement in the murder of Martin Kok.  Hughes was with the now deceased when he was shot outside the Boccaccio Club in Holland on the 8th of December 2016. Evidence was led [...]

Counsel for the appellant argued that the trial judge had erred in directing the jury on a number of key points during the trial. This included details on how certain evidence could and could not be used to corroborate one another. The appellants and the complainer had spent time in [...]

Williamson [2021] FAI 34 A fatal accident inquiry has determined that a prisoner who died of a drug overdose following sentencing did not die as a result of an accident that could have been prevented by prison authorities.  Gavin Williamson died in HMP Perth in June 2018 after he took [...]

Procurator Fiscal, Selkirk v LM 2021 SAC (Crim) 5 An appeal by the Crown against a decision to uphold a no case to answer submission has succeeded in the Sheriff Appeal Court, paving the way for a new prosecution. The respondent, LM, had not been convicted at trial following a [...]

Singh v Scottish Ministers [2021] CSOH 57 A prisoner serving a seven-year sentence for sexual offences has failed in his attempt to challenge a decision by the Scottish Ministers to refuse his release on license. Harpreet Singh, an Indian citizen who was subject to a deportation order, attempted to argue [...]