Judge’s fury at questions to rape victim

BRIAN McConnachie was previously criticised by a judge for suggesting a rape victim was a ‘wicked, deceitful, malicious, vindictive liar’.

The ‘vulnerable’ woman was giving evidence against her attacker at the High Court in Glasgow in 2014 when she was subjected to a gruelling cross examination by the QC.

Mr McConnachie was representing Duncan Begg, from Skye, who was ultimately jailed for eight years for rape and assault against two women in the north of Scotland the 1990s.

After Begg’s unsuccessful appeal in 2015, Lord Carloway said: ‘The manner and length of examination and cross examination give cause for concern in relation to the treatment of a vulnerable, or indeed any, witness testifying in the criminal courts. The examination lasted for many hours and must have been a substantial ordeal.’