According to UPI, a Scottish teen who threatened his granny's parrot was ordered by an Edinburgh Sheriff to buy her some chocolates by way of apology.

Stefan McKinsley, 19, pled guilty to breach of the peace on Monday 1 February 2010. His gran had called police in the early hours of Saturday morning with a complaint that her grandson was drunk and was hitting the parrot's cage.

The teen threatened the bird with violence if it did not quiet down and allow him to sleep, and was not placated even after his grandmother placed a cloth over the parrot's cage.

The precise wording of the apology is not recorded, but perhaps it went something like this?

If you don't stop squawkin' you'll be no more! You will cease to be! You'll expire and go to meet your maker! You'll be a stiff! Bereft of life, restin' in peace! You'll be pushing up the daisies! your metabolic processes will be 'istory! You'll be off the twig! You'll kick the bucket, you'll shuffle off your mortal coil, run down the curtain and join the bleedin' choir invisibile!! YOU WILL BE AN EX-PARROT!!

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, Just for Fun, News

Don't forget to check out the latest Yell.com blog post called "Miscarriage of justice in Scottish terror case", which concerns the decision of the High Court of Justiciary sitting as an appeal court in the case of Mohammed Atif Siddique v. HM Advocate.

In brief - the appeal court has determined that not only did Lord Carloway incorrectly suggest that Aamer Anwar was guilty of contempt of court for his criticism of the jury's decision, but that he (Lord Carloway) had misdirected the jury as well. So perhaps, Mr. Anwar's criticism had some merit after all?

The case will call again later in February to allow the Crown Office to decide on a possible fresh prosecution, but in the meantime you should feel safe(r) to download the Anarchist Cookbook without fear of prosecution. Just don't try any of the recipes.

Photo courtesy of JK Davidson.

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, News, Yell.com Solicitors Blog

Oh dear. A valuable painting by Scottish watercolourist Tom Scott has been stolen from the Signet Library, home of the WS Society.

The painting, "I Cannae Hear Ye" is thought to have been taken over the Christmas holiday period from its home in Parliament Square off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

The library hosted a New Year party for approx. 200 people and some time between then and 5 January, the watercolour (worth up to £4,000) went missing.

Lothian and Borders Police are quoted as saying: "This has been an opportunistic theft of a relatively expensive piece of artwork, and we are eager to ensure it is returned to the library."

According to Wikipedia, Tom Scott (1854-1927) was born in Selkirk. Known as the "Borders Painter", his historical paintings reflect his lifelong interest in the archaeology and history of the area. His highly accomplished work is mainly depictions of the landscapes of Southern Scotland, and illustrative tableaux derived from local Legend and story.

Drawing from both the Arts and Crafts movement and the work of the Romantic School, he is however, little known outside of Scotland, where he has a loyal (but not necessarily honest) following.

Posted on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online.

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, News

A survey by RNID Scotland found that only a fifth of venues in the Edinburgh Fringe provided induction loops for audiences.

RNID Scotland found only a fifth of venues surveyed provided induction loops for audiences. The equipment, which amplifies speech over background noise, is essential to help hearing-aid users access information about the shows and fully enjoy the performances. The charity is now calling on the Edinburgh Fringe organisers to improve provision for deaf and hard-of-hearing people before next year's events.

Director of RNID Scotland, Delia Henry, said: "The Edinburgh Festival is a wonderful event that should be enjoyed by as many people as possible. We think that the organisers and festival customers will be disappointed to learn that there are barriers to accessing shows because induction loops are not available at the box offices and at 76% of the venues we surveyed.

"We're hoping to work with organisers and individual venues to make sure that hearing aid users have a better experience next year."

Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 requires service providers to make "reasonable adjustments" to allow disabled people to access a service. It means that shows who do not provide facilities for those who are deaf could leave themselves open to legal action.

Posted on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online.

Labels: Discrimination, Edinburgh, News

I noticed a letter in the Financial Times, pointing out that they had in error stated that "Scotland has had a separate legal system and prison service since 1999"

In fact, as our correspondent points out "the Scottish legal system and prison service have never, before, during and after the 1707 Union, been other than 'separate' from those of England." Quite so.

The conclusion drawn from this is that even without devolution the decision on whether to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Meghrahi on compassionate grounds under the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 would have been taken by the Secretary of State for Scotland and not by a UK Justice Minister or Home Secretary.

The letter's author is one James McLean of Edinburgh. I wonder if he is any relation to James McLean, IT/IP expert and partner at Burness LLP?

Posted on Absolvitor.: Scots Law Online.

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, law firms, News, Scottish Government

News reaches us that an Edinburgh solicitor has been accused of dealing drugs from the law firm where he worked as a partner.

According to the BBC News website, he is alleged to have supplied cocaine to four men from the offices of Allan McDougall Solicitors in Dalkeith in January 2009. One of the men later died of a suspected overdose. He denies charges of possessing and supplying class A drugs, has been bailed and is due to stand trial in December.

So, does the legal profession have a drugs problem? I conducted my own deeply unscientific survey of the BBC News site and came up with the following:

• A solicitor in Nottingham convicted of smuggling £15 of cannabis in her bra to a client in custody (2007) She got 15 months in jail.
• A London solicitor convicted of fraud and attempting to pervert the course of justice by inter alia providing false alibis to drug gang members (2007) He got 14.5 years in jail.
• A Glasgow solicitor convicted of supplying heroin and diazepam to a client in Barlinnie Prison (2006) She got 2 years 8 months in jail.
• A senior defence solicitor convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice by concocting lies for a man (actually a BBC researcher in a sting op) caught in possession of cocaine (2006) He was sentenced to 3 years in jail.

I follow this with an article from The Times which suggests that drug use in legal circles is "absolutely endemic" and the link to LawCare - an advisory and support service to help lawyers, their staff and their immediate families to deal with health problems such as depression and addiction, and related emotional difficulties.

Posted on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online.

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, News

Spot the Govan Law Centre in this news clip on class sizes.

Labels: Edinburgh, Education Law, Law Centres, News

I learn from the online edition of the Jerusalem Post that a group of activists from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) who disrupted a concert by the Jerusalem String Quartet in Edinburgh during the 2008 Festival have been charged with "racially aggravated harassment".

At a performance in Edinburgh's Queens Hall on 29 August 2009, four members of the SPSC interrupted the concert by shouting at the musicians and audience. It was claimed that the activists caused distress to both the orchestra and members of the audience.

The protesters had originally been charged with disturbing the peace, but at Edinburgh Sheriff Court those charges were dropped in favor of the more serious charge of "racially motivated conduct."

Sofia Macleod, one of those charged, is quoted as saying: "We think it's totally ridiculous. Our actions and campaigning are based on international human rights. We take the allegations seriously, but there is no question whatsoever that any of our actions are racist in any way."

She added that the Palestine solidarity movement was "an anti-racist movement based on anti-racism,".

In a statement put out by the group, SPSC chairman Mick Napier, who is also due to appear in court at a later date, said, "We thank the court for providing us with the forum to explain that opposition to the violent, racist state of Israel is motivated by a commitment to universal human rights. We support the Palestinian people faced with Zionist savagery, and we are contemptuous of attempts to smear such a struggle for justice with the taint of racism. I hope these charges are not quietly dropped and we will have the opportunity to meet our critics in open court."

This brings to mind several questions, including: is being "racially motivated" the same thing as "racism"? As I understand that the string quartet are not accused of personally being involved in any human rights violations, they are being targeted due to their nationality. This is covered in the term "race" or "racial" in UK law. So in that sense, I guess the actions of the SPSC were "racially motivated" - but their support for the Palestinian people through charitable donations might also be described as "racially motivated". Is that always a bad thing?

And is therefore "racially motivated" harrassment quantitively worse than plain old "alcohol motivated" harrassment? On one view, SPSC would argue that their motivations were a mitigating factor to any crime committed - however it may lead them to incur heavier penalties. Should we be prosecuting "thought crimes" anyway? And would this pass the "Nelson Mandela test"?

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, Human Rights, News

The Best Stun Gun blog (no, really) reports that a man has been fined in Edinburgh Sheriff Court for importing an illegal stun gun.

South African Vernon White (73), by all accounts was visiting some friends in the Veldt. They decided that returning to Leith would be too risky for him without some kind of protection and gave him the weapon for his own self-defence. However, it was discovered by officials on his return to the UK when ... he told them he had it.

Sheriff Reith issued a modest fine.

Labels: Edinburgh, News