Thursday, October 04, 2007

Peace breaks out between Lord Advocate & Lord Justice General over World's End trial collapse 'spat'

After the spat reported last week between Lord Advocate & the Lord Justice General Lord Hamilton, a truce has been called .. so to speak.

The thoughts of some drift to allegations the whole 'spat' was little more than a staged event from the legal eagles, which successfully distracted many from the performance of the Crown Office overall ....

The Herald reports :

Legal chiefs reach truce after row over World’s End trial collapse

KEVIN SCHOFIELD October 04 2007

A truce was declared last night between Scotland's two most senior legal figures, marking the end of an unprecedented row sparked by the collapse of the World's End murder trial.

Lord Hamilton, the Lord Justice General, was highly critical of a statement to the Scottish Parliament made by Elish Angiolini, the Lord Advocate, three days after the case against Angus Sinclair collapsed at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Addressing MSPs last month, Ms Angiolini insisted there had been a strong enough case to let the jury decide whether to convict Sinclair for the murders.

The statement issued after yesterday's meeting said: "They agreed that it is important to respect decisions of the judiciary and that the independence of the judiciary and prosecution service are key to the operation of the criminal justice system.

"It was accepted that, where there is serious public and parliamentary concern, it will sometimes be necessary for the Lord Advocate to explain more fully the Crown's position in a particular case.

"It is expected that this would only occur in exceptional circumstances. In doing so, the Lord Advocate would always make it absolutely clear that the judge's decision must be respected."

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