QC who ‘sexted’ from court lavatory is saved by the bell

A BARRISTER has escaped punishment for sending a woman an intimate photograph of himself from court lavatories because it was one minute after the working day finished, it has emerged.

Brian Mcconnachie, a high-profile QC in Scotland, was also cleared of misconduct for part of a separate text saying he would “s--g” the head of a charity that supports rape victims “just to have something over her”.

The former prosecutor, who is one of the highest legal aid earners north of the border, made claims of having sex in courtrooms and at an official party for the Lord Advocate, Scotland’s most senior law officer.

However, a probe by the Faculty of Advocates, which regulates the profession in Scotland, upheld only a small number of the allegations against him.

One of the complaints was that Mr Mcconnachie had sent a sexually explicit photograph of himself to a woman from the lavatoriess at Livingston’s High Court, and declared that he was in an aroused state.

The lawyer insisted the message was a private matter and that the Faculty had no remit to investigate as he was not engaged with a client at the time.

He was backed by the committee investigating the complaints because the image was sent at one minute after 4pm, when the court day usually finished, The Daily Record reported.

Mr Mcconnachie was also investigated over a message about Sandy Brindley, the head of Rape Crisis Scotland, in October 2020. He wrote that another advocate had “once said to me he’d s--g Sandy Brindley”.

He then added: “I might s--g her, just to have something over her, but I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

He was found to have committed “unsatisfactory professional conduct” only in relation to the first part of the message, because they could have jeopardised the reputation of the other lawyer or the Faculty.

It was ruled that the second part of the message was “distasteful” but that it “concerned only Mcconnachie’s” feelings and wishes about “hypothetical sexual activity that he might engage in” with Ms Brindley. It dismissed the complaint on the grounds that it was a “private” communication.

He was also found to have breached his duty of confidence after he referred to a client as a “lying c---” in a message.

A spokesman for Rape Crisis Scotland described the remarks about Ms Brindley as “deplorable”.

Mr Mcconnachie declined to comment.