Leading law officer is fined £1,000 for shotgun blunder
Firearm discovered when police called to home after break-in
THE UK Government’s most senior adviser on Scots law has been fined £1,000 after he mistakenly left a 12-bore shotgun lying around in the basement of his Edinburgh home.
Advocate General for Scotland Richard Keen, QC, pled guilty to breaching section two of the Firearms Act 1968 by failing to secure the weapon.
Lord Keen, a former chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party who was made a life peer in 2015, did not appear at the city’s sheriff court, but he pled guilty by letter.
Sheriff Frank Crowe said: “I do take into account Mr Keen’s previous good record and the fact that he admitted his guilt at the outset.
“Nevertheless, to hold a firearms certificate is a privilege and there are very strict conditions which have to be adhered to to prevent such weapons falling into the wrong hands.
“There was a potential risk with the shotgun not in the secure cabinet as laid regulations.”
The court heard the offence came to light when police were called to a break-in at Lord Keen’s home on Ann Street, Edinburgh, on Hogmanay last year when he and his wife were away on holiday.
Officers searching the property found the Stephen Grant shotgun in a basement out of its secure cabinet.
Solicitor advocate Simon Catto, representing Lord Keen, said he had been out shooting on December 27 and, on returning home, had taken the gun to the basement intending to clean it but had then “forgotten about it through his own carelessness” down by the before departing for holiday on the 28th.
Mr Catto said Lord Keen had contacted police himself on Hogmanay after receiving a mobile phone alert that his alarm system had been triggered.
While the upper floors of the property had been ransacked, the thieves had not entered the basement area, he said.
Mr Catto said: “He’s a keen shot. He shoots approximately 10 times per year. He has been a shotgun enthusiast for around 25 years and has held a firearms certificate.
“He is, therefore, fully aware of what’s expected and required of him in terms of the certificate.
“He accepts on this occasion he fell below that.”
Mr Catto added: “The house was locked, the alarm was set and no-one else had authority to enter the property.
“Other than the burglars who had no business being there, no-one else would have access to the property.
“This case and the consequent publicity has been the source of considerable embarrassment and he has pled guilty at the earliest opportunity.”
The sheriff said: “It is very fortunate that, when the house was ransacked, the house-breakers did not go down to the basement area.”
Lord Keen represented the UK Government at the Supreme Court appeal which it lost on the triggering of Article 50 ahead of Brexit.
He also represented the family of Dodi Fayed’s chauffeur Henri Paul in a case linked to the 1997 car crash in which Princess Diana was killed.