Lawyer claims court case bias
A Motherwell solicitor has accused a sheriff of bias during a marathon 10-week trial of four men and a woman on stabbing and conspiracy charges.
Diarmid Bruce has registered an official complaint about Sheriff Shiona Waldron’s conduct during the case at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
The trial ended on Friday with a young dad being jailed for three years and four months for stabbing a man then trying to fix a false alibi for the crime.
Jamie Hislop was found guilty of being in a gang who chased 46-year-old David Meekison and punched, kicked and stabbed him to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement in Thorndean Crescent, Bellshill, on July 7 last year.
Hislop and his 31- year- old girlfriend, Mari Kennedy were found guilty of conspiring with intent to pervert the course of justice by arranging an alibi for him.
Kennedy, a mum of three, was bailed and will be sentenced next month.
Three brothers, Graham Martin, 27, Adam Martin, 26, and 23- year- old Dylan Hay were cleared of attacking Mr Meekison.
Adam Martin was also cleared of phoning Mr Meekison after the stabbing and threatening to burn his house down if he gave evidence.
He was found guilty of being in a threatening crowd who threw bricks, sticks and bottles at Mr Meekison and his wife, Margaret, the day after the stabbing.
Adam Martin was jailed for nine months but walked free because of the time he had already spent on remand.
All five accused had been held in custody during the trial. Hislop, 21, and Kennedy had given a Holytown address while the other accused are from Bellshill.
Mr Meekison said he needed stitches in various wounds after being attacked as he walked home after visiting a friend. Defence agents claimed he was lying when he named their clients as being involved.
The trial was disrupted before Christmas when it emerged that police hadn’t disclosed CCTV footage from a shop which the defence said would have helped their case.
Sheriff Waldron refused demands to have the trial abandoned and re-started with witnesses being shown the footage.
All five accused then sacked their lawyers in protest at what they saw as an unfair decision by the sheriff.
For two days they represented themselves until re-employing their legal representatives.
On several occasions the trial proceeded in the absence of the accused as they refused to attend court.
Mr Bruce then said the charges should be dismissed ent i rely, saying Sheri f f Waldron’s conduct had caused his client’s family members to conclude that she he had a “vendetta” against the defence.
The sheriff, in turn, accused Mr Bruce of questioning “judicial integrity”.
She reminded him that she had taken an oath to ensure fairness in court.
Despite fears that the jury could be influenced by developments during the trial, Mr Bruce’s client, Dylan Hay, was handed a not guilty verdict on the stabbing charge.
Graham and Adam Martin had the case against them found not proven.
Mr Bruce confirmed that he has written to the Judicial Office for Scotland, which handles complaints against judges and sheriffs, about Sheriff Waldron’s conduct.