Lawyer tells of mishap with cuffs during case

Donald Findlay QC once handcuffed himself while preparing a murder case, only to realise he didn’t have a key, it has been said.

The Fife-born advocate was said to have been stranded in an Edinburgh hotel with the cuffs attached to wrist and ankle.

Mr Findlay, 70, was said to have been unable to walk and left fuming when colleagues told him they did not know where the key was.

He had been preparing for the “Limbs in the Loch” case in which he represented William Beggs, who was convicted of murdering 18-year-old Barry Wallace.

The victim was said to have had a single set of handcuffs placed on his wrist and ankle, and the QC was investigating whether it could be done.

Solicitor Iain Smith, who worked with Mr Findlay on the case, revealed the incident on the Hey Legal podcast.

He said: “During the ‘Limbs in the Loch’ case we used to meet every weekend and we would sometimes meet in the Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh.

“It was in 2000, at a time when you could still smoke, so Donald was there either with a cigar or a pipe.

“Part of there was the case was a suggestion

that the deceased had been attached to a set of handcuffs to both his wrist and ankle.

“So I had to procure a set of 1970s handcuffs and we were chatting away saying ‘This is impossible, you couldn’t do that.’

“Donald had attached one to his wrist and I saw him bending down – and the next thing I know he has managed to somehow attach the other handcuff to his ankle.

“I’m sitting going ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that is possible.’

“And then he is puffing away at his pipe and he says ‘Where’s the key?’. I realised I didn’t have the key. He’s in the Caledonian Hotel and this huge plume of smoke arises because

he’s puffing away on this pipe, red-faced, absolutely fuming with me.

“I’m thinking ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do?’ He couldn’t walk, he was literally attached to his ankle by his wrist.”

Mr Smith said Mr Findlay was eventually set free after his colleague Jim Keegan QC revealed he had the key all along.

He added: “We didn’t have camera phones then but if it had been 20 years on there wouldn’t have been any smoke so you would have seen him and there would have been loads of photos which he would have been very upset about.

“He’s a good sport and he allowed me to share that story.”

Fife-born advocate Donald Findlay QC.