(88)  The Chhokar murder case

Surjit Chhokar was stabbed to death outside his home in Overtown, Lanarkshire, on 4 November 1998.  In March 1999 Ronnie Coulter was tried for his murder.  He lodged a special defence naming his nephew Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery as the killers; both had originally been arrested and charged with the crime along with Ronnie Coulter.  Ronnie Coulter was found not guilty of murder but only of assault, and the trial judge, Lord McCluskey, criticised the then Lord Advocate (Lord Hardie of Blackford), saying: For reasons I cannot begin to understand