(658)  LOCKERBIE: PROFESSOR BLACK v LORD ADVOCATE

Professor Robert Black QC used the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission recommendation to send back to the Court of Criminal Appeal the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie bombing as the basis for an attack on the independence of the Lord Advocate, the judiciary and the Scottish prosecution system in a Scotsman article published on 23 July 2007 (available at http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1144342007).  The judges were placed in a difficult position before the creation of the Scottish Judicial Appointments Board because the Lord Advocate had a role in their appointment.  In the Lockerbie trial, according to Professor Black, the desire of the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office to obtain a conviction had over-ridden their role to act dispassionately in the public interest.  He concluded:

It is surely time for all involved in the Scottish criminal justice system to put away childish things. We are all of us