When I met her she was scarred, devastated and traumatised. But the one thing she wanted, she didn’t want these guys to get away. She kept going
As bin lorry case looms, top lawman on fight for justice
He’s standing on the steps of the court where he celebrated his most famous case.
The courtrooms may have been converted into a restaurant and flats since veteran lawyer Ross Harper retired and moved to Australia but the spectre of the Carol X case still haunts the legal system.
And it’s never far from the mind of Harper, now 81, the man who led the first successful private prosecution in modern-day Scotland for a woman raped, slashed and left for dead in Glasgow’s east end.
Thirty-four years on, the retired lawman is back in Scotland – days before another team of lawyers argue that bin lorry driver Harry Clarke should face the first private prosecution since Carol X.
And Harper, a former Tory party president in Scotland, is clear – the families have every right to demand justice.
He said: “It’s important that justice is transparent. I think scrutiny is absolutely right and is the lifeblood of democracy. Nobody should be above the law, including those who promote it.
“Nobody has approached me or asked me how I did it so I presume they know what they’re doing.”
And with the benefit of exper ience, he cautions that getting justice is sometimes not the end of the story.
Harper represented Carol Douglas in the landmark Carol X case.
It was 1982 and a career-defining moment for Harper, who was forging a high-profile caseload in Glasgow.
For Carol, it marked the end of a difficult chapter but not the end of her woes.
Harper said: “It could and should have been different.”
Carol was brutally raped and slashed and left for dead after being at tacked by three men.
There was a wealth of evidence against the attackers, led by rapist Joseph Sweeney. One confessed and Carol named them all and picked them out at identity parades.
But the Crown caused public fury by refusing to put the men on trial. Prosecutors made the decision after a psychiatrist claimed a court case could damage Carol. But she was determined not to let the men go unpunished.
Harper said: “Every lawyer wants to make legal history. Carol had insisted on me representing her. But my main concern was if she was fit enough to give evidence.
“I met her and she had been through this trauma. She was scarred, devastated and traumatised. But the one thing she wanted was that she didn’t want these guys to get away. She was not daft – she kept going.”
Carol fought bravely and doggedly before finally getting justice 19 months after the case was raised. She was awarded compensation through the criminal injuries scheme. The decision not to prosecute led to questions being raised in the Houses of Parliament and the resignation of then solicitor general Sir Nicholas Fairbairn.
Harper said: “He stupidly answered questions at two o’clock in the morning from a journalist. So it became headline news and the rest is history.
“I met with the Crown Office who couldn’t have been more helpful. They agreed to the private
prosecution. It was nerve-wracking. Although Carol was fine sitting in a chair opposite me, I was worried she wouldn’t be able to stand up in court. I was anxious right up until the time she gave evidence.” The case won, Sweeney was given 12 years for rape and the other two attackers were found guilty of indecent assault. Carol died 12 years ago, aged just 51. Harper added: “Carol gave evidence bravely. She got money. I managed to persuade her to sign a mandate entrusting the money.
“My secretary acted as her mentor and guide. Carol could have got more money, in my view, but she took the first offer.
“She came to the office a month after and demanded the money. I said, ‘Spend it well.’ It could have and should have changed her life. I never heard from her again.”
Harper retired to Australia with his wife and
family but is back in Scotland to talk about his biography, Beyond Reasonable Doubt. In it, he also talks about his fall from grace after allegations about his private life surfaced in 1989.
Harper resigned as president of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Association and sued a newspaper. The case was eventually settled and he signed a confidentiality clause.
Asked if he had a fair hearing, he said: “I’ve actually got no views. It’s history. It’s banished from my mind. I settled with the paper and it was put up in the shelves marked ‘ forget’, a pigeon hole.
“I will shove it there and let it stay there. I’m lucky that way – I think it’s called selective memory.
“We all have things we want to forget. And that is one period of my life.”
He has been happily married to his German- born wife Ursula for 52 years.
Harper added: “We’re still going strong.”
And although he might not have lived in Scotland for several years, he stil l has strong views on the SNP government and a second independence referendum.
In 1997, Harper wrote a book cal led Referendums Are Dangerous.
He said: “I am against a second referendum. I’m in favour of the UK and always have been. Scotland has plenty of devolution. Some would say too much. I wouldn’t say too much. I think devolution is good.”
And the former Tory grandee even has a soft spot for Nicola Sturgeon.
He said: “I remember Nicola when she was a feisty lawyer. She was in the dawn of her career and I was in the dusk of mine.
“She is an impressive woman and very pleasant. And I think Ruth Davidson is doing very well. The party has had an upturn.” Beyond Reasonable Doubt: A Memoir by Ross Harper is published by Black and White and is out now, priced £20.
I was worried Carol wouldn’t be able to stand up in court but she gave evidence bravely